San Antonio Valley

Harvest Report 2010

As a result of the cold year, the total production of Sauvignon Blanc in the San Antonio Valley decreased with approximately 25%. The frosts that took place in spring and autumn provoked an important production loss.

For Casa Marin 2010 ten was not an easy year. We lost approximately 6 hectares of production, and for a vineyard of 40 hectares only, this is a lot. Nevertheless, the quality of the grapes were amazing.

I wrote this report so you know exactly what the 2010 vintage of Casa Marin looks like, the impacts of the climate on the grapes and the main characteristics of the 2010 vintage wines. Please feel free to download the harvest report 2010 below. If you have any question, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Download here: Casa Marin Harvest Report 2010

Tom Hyland – San Antonio

Sommelier Journal is a magazine written by wine professionals for wine professionals, and shows the wonderful world of wine in a different way so both professionals and fans to enjoy. Distributed in Americas, Europe and Oceania, Sommelier Journal writers comment the latest news and releases concerning all the world’s wine regions.

In its April issue Tom Hyland, freelance wine writer and photographer specialized on Italian wines, creator of learnitalianwines.com, wrote a very interesting article on the San Antonio Valley. In this article he talks about Viña Casa Marin, our wines, last remarkable reviews and the special characteristics that difference our valley from the rest of the valleys. To read the article and be delighted with this wine specialist´s words and learn more about the San Antonio Valley and Lo Abarca Valley, click on this link

International Congress of Entrepreneurs Viña del Mar

Wine tourism development in the San Antonio Valley

My major specialization has been in wine tourism development and I love to travel and taste wines! Who doesn´t? You can travel meanwhile discovering great wines and enjoy the local gastronomy! Last week I was invited to give a talk at the International Congress for Business Entrepreneurs in Viña del Mar about wine tourism development in the San Antonio valley. For those who have travelled to Chile or do have a basic knowledge of the wine regions, the most developed regions in the area of wine tourism in Chile are the Colchagua Valley (2 hours south of Santiago), Maipo Valley (30min from Santiago), and the Casablanca Valley (1 hour from Santiago between Santiago and Valparaiso). Also Mendoza in Argentina, at the other side of the Andes, famous for its Malbec, is a popular wine tourism destination. But who has the San Antonio Valley in their evoked set when visiting Chile? Do you???

During the congress there were four speakers about wine tourism, the Director of tourism Mendoza, the manager of tourism and events from Viña Casas del Bosque in Casablanca, the Regional Director of Viña Errazuriz and me, representing Casa Marín and the San Antonio Valley. After hearing the great success stories of wine tourism in Casablanca and Mendoza and the thousands of tourist visiting them each year and invested millions of dollars in wine tourism development, I had give my talk about wine tourism in the San Antonio Valley. I felt as the “lost sister”. The San Antonio Valley is so beautiful, and I fell in love with it as soon as I arrived, it has many attractive but those are not yet explored and financing for the government is lacking. Unfortunately a few people are aware of this.

Let me give you one example. During the congress I was reading some tourist guides with tourist routes in the fifth region of Valparaiso. One of the routes mentioned in this guide, which was by the way made by the National Tourism Board Sernatur, was about the Litoral de los Poetas route (the San Antonio Valley). It is called the route of the Poets as many famous poets such as Pablo Neruda and Victor Huidrobo have lived in this area and their poems are inspired by this area. But back to the point, within the route of Litoral de los Poetas, Lo Abarca was mentioned! Yes, I thought! Founding the right page, my excitement changed to a great disappointment. Below the heading of Lo Abarca, there were two sentences written, explaining the museum of Lo Abarca! For the people that know Lo Abarca, this museum is always closed, is very old and has a very poor collection! It did not mention anything about the vineyard, the restaurant El Sauce, famous for its Pork Ribs, the Mosaics and the vineyard. I couldn´t believe this! How come that the regional tourism board writes this about Lo Abarca! That´s also what I told them during my speech, the director of the tourism board colored red, and I hope she still feels ashamed, so that the next time we do appear in the guides made by Sernatur with the description that we deserve!!