Viña Santa Rita has announced Casa Real Reserva Especial has joined the great wines of France on the Place de Bordeaux.
The achievement by the Chilean winery marked a ‘significant step forward’ in building more international recognition for the wines, said Viña Santa Rita, which has appointed International First Growths (IFG), a courier business specialising in Australian and now Chilean wine, to facilitate this new route to market.
‘This was a dream of Ricardo Claro, who 40 years ago tasked the Santa Rita team and the winemakers to create this wine, Casa Real, as a faithful exponent of the best terroir in Chile for Cabernet Sauvignon, able to stand side-by-side with the best wines of the world,’ said Baltazar Sánchez, Viña Santa Rita’s chairman.
‘It was the original concept behind the creation of Casa Real more than 30 years ago. This shared vision is now being fulfilled by this historic step in entering La Place de Bordeaux, the world’s most exclusive international distribution network for fine wine,’ he said.
Viña Santa Rita believe that La Place de Bordeaux will enable it to reach many new fine wine consumers around the world and to expand Casa Real’s ‘reputation and recognition in the international fine wine scene,’ Sánchez added.
IFG said Casa Real was a ‘perfect fit’ for La Place de Bordeaux. ‘It has fascinating history, reputation and the consistency of quality to capture the attention of fine wine customers in this unique international forum,’ said director Tom Portet.
Santa Rita’s Casa Real Reserva Especial is steeped in 9th century heritage and modern wine ambitions. Founded in 1880, the winery was acquired 100 years later by the Claro Group, who challenged the vineyard and winemaking teams to develop a great Chilean wine that honoured this national treasure, but also reflected their ambitions to take the estate to a new level of precision and prestige.
All vintages of Casa Real Reserva Especial Cabernet Sauvignon since 1989 derive from the sustainably-farmed Carneros Viejos Vineyard in the Alto Jahuel area of the Maipo Valley and located in the foothills of the Andes Mountains.
Describing the 2018 growing season as ‘one of the best in living memory’, Casa Real’s winemaker Sebastián Labbé said the 2018 vintage was a ‘superb expression’ of an ‘exceptional’ terroir.
‘The pure fruit definition, persistent fine-grained tannins and French oak barrique maturation are all finely balanced giving a wine of lovely tension and complexity. The concentration, richness of flavour and overall precision promise a great cellaring future,’ he said.
Distribution of Casa Real Reserva Especial through La Place de Bordeaux started this month, directed to the European, Asian and Canadian markets, excluding the US and South America.
