Chile Forum

ryanar wrote:I've travelled overland into Chile twice in the last few months, both times with between 2-3 dozen bottles of wine. On both occasions, there was zero interest in the wine (from an "extraction of tax" point of view).

Admittedly, I was coming in to Arica the first time and via Paso San Francisco on the second occasion, rather than following the usual wine trafficking route from Mendoza. More importantly, when coming in to Arica, they did confiscate my cheese and once they'd spotted it, still refused to let me eat it on the spot. Bastards...

The cheese and other dairy products are a big no no, I would never give them a chance to look for it, I wouldn’t have it. If they look for it and you don’t declare it there are fines if they want to go in that direction, when asked I say 3 cases of wine, they don’t often ask how many bottles to the case and if they do I know I’m probably paying the tax.

zer0nz wrote:

ryanar wrote:I've travelled overland into Chile twice in the last few months, both times with between 2-3 dozen bottles of wine. On both occasions, there was zero interest in the wine (from an "extraction of tax" point of view).

Admittedly, I was coming in to Arica the first time and via Paso San Francisco on the second occasion, rather than following the usual wine trafficking route from Mendoza. More importantly, when coming in to Arica, they did confiscate my cheese and once they'd spotted it, still refused to let me eat it on the spot. Bastards...

owch....

oh yeah, never bring pisco from another country into chile...... that will probably get you more than just a throw it out!

Yeah, Peruvian pisco was in the stash... Even then they still had no interest!

Digressing, I don't understand what the fuss is about with pisco sour's here. I used to reckon they're bloody awful, to put it simply. That was until I was in Moquegua (southern Peru) and had my one and only Peruvian pisco sour. My god, it was good! My partner thought it was so good, she knocked hers off very quickly and then started on what was left of mine, despite my protests. Next day, we headed off on the local pisco route and randomly managed to find the guy who features in all the local propaganda about pisco. Let's just say his tasting was extensive, generous and just all-round fantastic... Purchased bottles of pisco have been given to Chilean friends who grudgingly proclaim it to be the best pisco they have ever had.

So, based on my results, 100% of Peruvian pisco sours are great, 100% of the Chilean version are terrible. So, there you have it. Conclusive proof!