Located in the heights of Mariposa hill (Butterfly hill), close to one of the famous Pablo Neruda’s houses, “La Sebastiana” and right on the middle of the natural amphitheatre of Valparaiso, the hotel displays beautiful wide views of the city, port, hills, and even the sand dunes to the north. Guests can enjoy this experience, relaxing in the rooftop terrace, while zipping beautiful Chilean wines after a day wondering the narrow streets of the city or during breakfast, with homemade bread, granola and sweets, along with locally sourced products.
This hotel originated from the idea of creating a place in Valparaiso, where tourists could experience the beautiful and dynamic port city of Valparaiso, while learning in a broader way about Chilean wine.
The owner, Grant Phelps, is a kiwi Winemaker who has worked in the industry for more than 30 years, in Chile he has worked as the head wine maker for wineries Viu Manent (Colchagua) and Casas del Bosque (Casablanca) and has great passion for Chilean wine, this is what moved him to do a wine inspired hotel. Visitors will see the wine concept in every detail of the project, starting from the mini bar options with an offer of 16 different wines that guest can chose from to drink while paying the same price they would pay at a store, the decoration of the hotel, where they can find repurpose wine barrels as furniture, wine bottles as lamps and graffiti art inspired on wine, we also offer wine tastings at the hotel and winery tours to Casablanca valley, along with other valleys such as San Antonio and Aconcagua.
Architecture wise, we wanted to make a statement on sustainable architecture and construction, by the time we were designing the project, sustainable practices were not very common in Chile, and it was important for us to bring the subject and idea to the table so people could be more aware of the possibilities. The building was made with 70% recycled or repurpose materials, all of the containers that were used had been in circulation for 10 years or more, the insulation we installed is made of recycled newspaper or rubber, and most of our furniture is made with recycled wood from pallets used in the wine industry, wine barrels, old tubs, container walls or container doors that we removed to turn the containers into a habitable building, we also incorporated solar panels for energy and installed a system to reuse grey water.
It was important for the project to incorporate graffiti art, being in the second biggest graffiti art city in southamaerica, that’s why the hotel has one piece of graffiti art in every room and space, made by locals and international artists, so it can be a testimony of the talented artists that make their art in different cities of the world.
Coming to Winebox we invite our guest to dive into the full experience of Valparaiso, the art and the wine which we consider another form of art itself.
