Casamarinlife.com
Jamie Verbraak
Casa Marin Back in the UK Market!
Casa Marin and Mentzendorff signed agency agreement
After a search of 7 months for a new UK Agent we finally could sign an agreement with our new importer Mentzendorff. The Mentzendorff portfolio is built upon the two global leading brands of Bollinger Champagne and Taylor´s Port, around which they have assembled a diverse and interesting wine portfolio of small boutique and independent family-owned producers.
We from Casa Marin are very excited with this new agreement. We feel that Mentzendorff and Casa Marin fit perfectly together and we believe that this agreement will grow into a beautiful long-term relationship. As Maria Luz says: “working with an importer is like marriage, a lot of excitement and a committed relationship for life!”.
Andrew Hawes (managing director of Mentzendorff) comments in their Press release: “it is a pleasure for us to returning the wines of Casa Marin to the UK market where we feel convinced there is a demand for their high quality. We are also very much looking forward to start working with Maria Luz and her Family”.
Our wines will be for the first time showed with Mentzendorff at the Decanter New World Fine Wine Encounter and of course we will be with them at the International London Wine Fair.
For further information for distribution, please contact us at marketing@casamarin.cl
Food & Wine Magazine April 2011 features Casa Marin
Jon Fine, who writes for Food & Wine magazine, wrote an article in response to the February 2010 earthquake that shook Chile a year ago and how that disaster has shaped what the 2010 vintage is turning out to be now.
In his trip to Chile last May, Jon surveyed the damage and got a broader sense of the state of Chilean wine. In his article he highlights three of the winemakers he thinks represents much of the country’s potential, including Casa Marin:
“Then there are the winemakers in Chile who are truly walking the edge. That is, the edge of the country—those regions that are right up against the windswept Pacific coast, or close to Chile’s northern or southern borders, where cooler climates are yielding some of the country’s most fascinating wines. Viña Casa Marín’s Maria Luz Marín is a perfect example. In 2000, she founded the winery in the relatively undeveloped San Antonio valley, no more than a couple of miles from the Pacific. Today, she runs one of Chile’s star wineries, one that demonstrates most vividly the promise of this narrow country’s edges.
Casa Marín has won acclaim for its intense, minerally Sauvignon Blancs. The 2009 Cipreses Vineyard is all slate and grapefruit; the 2009 Laurel Vineyard is a touch sweeter, with passion-fruit flavors. Both wines are exemplary, but my favorite Chilean white is the Casa Marín Miramar Vineyard Riesling. The 2008 and 2009 are both thrilling amalgams of rock, lime and Riesling’s classic petrol-tinged aromatics. Casa Marín also produces Pinot Noir and Syrah, the latter from a vineyard site so cold that it’s a struggle to ripen the grapes in some years.”
Casa Marin Wines arrived in the Netherlands
Casa Marin and Okhuysen
This week on the 8th of March our container of Casa Marin wines touched the Dutch mainland. We are happy and proud to announce that Casa Marin will be represented in the Netherlands by our new importer Okhuysen! For more information about our wines and how to get them in the Netherlands, please visit www.okhuysen.nl
Terroir Discovery
Mr Tieni du Preez is the new wine consultant who has contracted Casa Marin. Du Preez, South African origin, is a recognized and experienced wine specialist, with a master degree in soil and nutrition scientist and has been a consultant for many years in other prestigious national vineyards of Chile.
Mr Du Preez, who also is consultant of vineyards and orchards in Argentina and Peru, is a leading private consultant in South Africa and has a long history in this field.
Casa Marin received Mr. du Preez this weekend for the first time, with as main objective to give shape to the new project of Casa Marin called “Tierras Blancas”.
We shared with Mr Du Preez a very interesting day, with the new discovery of a very special soil that thousands of years ago was covered by the Pacific Ocean. We hope to have a very good and successful collaboration in the course of time with this major international professional, and that Casa Marin will be still known as “one of the most radical and innovative vineyards of Chile”
Terroir Discovery at Casa Marin
Come and visit Casa Marin and see those secrets with your own eyes. If you understand the terroir, you understand the wine. We offer a tour in the vineyard, “Terroir Discovery”, which start at the highest point of the vineyard with ocean view, during this walk we will see the different soils, layers of soils, and we also compare the different leaves of the various vines and taste the grapes of each block to see the difference between one and another! Write to hospitality@casamarin.cl for more information or to make a reservation!
Vinos de Proa – Santo Domingo
After the success of last year’s “street tasting” in the seaside town of Santo Domingo, located in the San Antonio Valley, the vineyards of the San Antonio Leyda Valley got together again at “Plaza del Ollo”. Only the pioneers of the San Antonio valley were present: Viña Chocalán with their line “Malvilla”, Amayna, Viña Leyda, and Viña Casa Marin.
Vinos de Proa was inaugurated with a food pairing and tasting class of 8 different wines from the vineyards that were present. Pascual Ibañez, sommelier, wine writer and wine critic from Chile, introduced each wine to the public and explained the aromas and how each plates pairs well con each wine. For a change, we brought our Sauvignon Gris to the tasting, rated with 10 out of 10 points during this tasting.
I would say that Vinos de Proa has been more successful than last year. It is one of the best wine events that we attend in Chile. High quality wine, good ambience and nice public. The public was stunned by our Sauvignon Gris, this wine was definitely the star of the evening!
Who is the Roman God of Wine?
In the poll of last month, 30% of you chose Dionysus and 70% Bacchus as the Roman God of Wine. What is the correct answer? Here it goes:
- Amphictyonis is the Greek Goddess of Wine and friendships between nations
- Silenus is the Greek God of the Dance of the Wine-press and a companion of Dionysus
- Dionysus is the Greek God of Wine
- Bacchus is the Roman God of Wine
We are happy that our God of Wine Bacchus, our dog, German Shepherd, is still with us. Bacchus had suffered from an accident in January and was in a very serious situation! After complicated surgery, he was able to recover with his own strength! Thank God, today he is still with us, happy and healthy running around in the vineyard!
“The Grape that does not like to travel” – Jornal o Estado de Sao Paulo
“The grape that does not like to travel” – by Luiz Horta
Pinot Noir is such a complex grape! The variety, which originally comes from Burgundy, is a grape so beloved worldwide that high quality samples can be found across the globe — in New Zealand, in the states of Oregon and Washington in the U.S., and in other cold climates. The dream of many new world wine producers is to make a Pinot that resembles the Burgundy ones but the effort is almost always to no avail.
However, in South America, Chile has been very successful in producing high quality Pinot, along with some producers in the Argentine Patagonia. In spite of this, it must be said that these wines do not resemble Burgundy Pinot Noirs. Do we think this is bad? If one is able to grow the variety and have it display the typical characteristics of the grape, or have it show finesse, good acidity, body and the mass balance representative of a Pinot Noir, will that not be enough?
Luis Horta thinks a good Chilean Pinot Noir has to be just that: good and Chilean, without imitating or trying to be French. Hence the idea of tasting the best samples of the wine from Chile, to taste and to learn … Once again a favorite wine, from a great company and one of the most affordable in its line, surprisingly so…
Casa Marin Pinot Noir Lo Abarca Hills obtained 3 stars together with the TH Pinot Noir of Undurraga! It was described by Luiz Harto as “elegant, with a touch of “Dulce de Leche,” medium acidity, fine and pleasant.”
Syrah 2008 – 93pts Wine & Spirits Febrero
The American wine magazine Wine & Spirits rated our Syah 2008 with 93pts!!!
Please click here for more information
Casamarinlife is now bilingual
Casamarinlife.com is now available in Spanish and English. Choose your prefered language at the right of this page!!!
New Ratings Robert Parkers
Finally the new rates of Robert Parker are published:
- Casa Marin Gewurztraminer Casona Vineyard 2009: 90pts
- Casa Marin Pinot Noir Lo Abarca Hills Vineyard 2009: 90pts
- Casa Marin Riesling Miramar Vineyard 2009: 88pts
The 2009 Gewurztraminer Casona Vineyard is light straw-colored with delicate varietal aromas including lychee, baking spices, peach, and apricot. Crisp, dry, and balanced, it reveals excellent depth and length on the palate. It should drink nicely for several years and pair well with Asian cuisine.
The 2007 Pinot Noir Lo Abarca Hills Vineyard is medium ruby red with an alluring nose of cedar, cinnamon,cherry blossom, earth notes, and raspberry. It is impeccably balanced on the palate, with a firm acid structure and a solid core
of spicy red fruits. It will evolve for several years and have a 10-15 year lifespan. It was the most Burgundy-like Pinot in my Chile tastings.
Casa Marin’s 2009 Riesling Miramar Vineyard is medium straw colored with an expressive nose of
mineral, spring flowers, citrus, and white peach. Dry, crisp, and concentrated on the palate, with a touch of saline character, this is a balanced Riesling with an acid structure that should keep it drinking well for another 4-5 years.
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