Peruvian Wine Culture The wine industry in Peru has actually been around far longer than most people realize. Wine grapes were first introduced to Peru by the Spanish conquistador Marquis Francisco de Caravantes who visited there during the sixteenth century. Ever since then, Peruvians have been working on perfecting their wine growing techniques. Today, wine makers in the province of Ica are producing some very good wines. Peruvians know this well and now the rest of the world is finding out too. Ica's Role In Winemaking: The city of Ica lies within the province of Ica, which is the center of Peruvian wine culture. This is the area where wine grapes were first introduced and many smaller wineries still make use of ancient techniques to produce wines. The province of Ica is known as an area of sand, sea and oases. Despite its hot and dry climate, Ica is actually a perfect place to grow wine grapes. The fields are thoroughly irrigated with water from the Andes and virtually any crop in the world can grow here. Peru's best wineries are located here and are referred to as "bodegas" which actually means "wineries". All Peruvian wineries are prefixed with this word; Bodega Tacama, Bodega Ocucaje, etc. In some ways, Ica (the province) is not just the cradle of Peru's wine culture but of Peru as a whole. Saints and medicine men are a part of everyday life and this is also where the best Pisco brandy is distilled. Pisco has attained a certain degree of world fame and is considered to be Peru's national drink. It would be very hard to find a Peruvian winery that doesn't make Pisco alongside their wines. In addition to wine, the wine often is further distilled into "Pisco." To make Pisco - 1. Grapes are crushed and pressed. 2. Then, the grape pressings are transferred to botijas where fermentation begins. 3. Eight days later, the famous "cachina" is ready. 4. During the third week the must is distilled in stills or alembics. 5. The result is a unequaled Pure Peruvian Pisco, unique in the world. The dried mud container where Pisco is placed during fermentation is called a "botija", meaning where pisco is deposited. The botija is a practical container that is used in the production of pisco and then to transport and keep it. Afterwards the pisco is stored in botijas. When the botijas are empty they stowed them face down, until being used again in the next vintage. Pisco was initially made from 'Quebranta' grapes, a local non aromatic variety of the black grape brought from Spain, that gives it a very particular and characteristic flavour. This drink is known as 'Pure Pisco' and is also obtained from the distillation of other non-aromatic selected grapes, such as 'Mollar' and 'Negra Corriente'. There is also an 'Aromatic Pisco' obtained from the distillation of aromatic Muscat grapes such as 'Italia', 'Moscatel', 'Torontel' and 'Albilla'. A third type is the 'Acholado', obtained from the mixture of aromatic and non-aromatic grapes. Finally, you can find the 'Mosto Verde', which is distilled from unfermented grape juice. A very detailed description of the whole Pisco process is as follows: There are nine steps: First step, Machine crushing of the grapes, that have been quality tested .Second step :Fermentation . Third step , laboratory test of the fermentation. Fourth Step, distillation and separation of head alcohols and tail alcohols . Fifth step, end of distillation. Sixth step , second laboratory check. Seventh step, Pisco lies to quiet down. Eighth�step, filtration. Ninth step, bottling. We visited the Bodega El Catador Winery & Vineyard in Ica on on April 12, 2006 at about 1:00 PM and again on March 15, 2011 at about 1:00 PM. This page is for information purposes only and while we have made every effort to be accurate, it is the travelers responsibility to make the appropriate choice as to which hotels to use in Peru. We found that when touring Peru, Magical Cusco Tours gave us the best service of all. They even arranged very personal tours based upon our ages and experience. They were there for us whenever we needed them. Click on any of their links on our pages and they will give you a 4% discount for taking their package tours. Mention delange.org. Merchant Code Inka2010 for your discount! We suggest letting Ana Maria handle your tour. Note: The 4% discount applies to package tours only! Discount does not apply to hotel bookings, domestic or international tickets, meals or any other service booked as a single activity. Magical Cusco Tours also has a culinary tour that you may enjoy.Click Here For: Taste Of Peru.com their culinary tour page. We also have links to Priceline.Com on our pages, in case you may prefer to use their services.