Making terroir work

SANTA CAROLINA - MAKING TERROIR WORK

Santa Carolina Sauvignon Blanc Reserva 2011 and

Santa Carolina Specialties Sauvignon Blanc Ocean Side 2011

Introducing Santa Carolina, the range of Chilean wines where winemakers use the extraordinary geologic and climatic conditions to produce wines to natural perfection and character in the vineyard.

Santa Carolina Winemaker Alejandro Wedeles explains in his personal blog santacarolinawinery.blogspot.com the process the team use to explore the perfect terroir for individual grapes.

Alejandro says; “I started thinking more deeply about terroir when I got the opportunity to make wine with 100 year old Cabernet Sauvignon vines. The terroir where these vines were growing was so vastly different from the conditions just a couple kilometers away that it really inspired me to think about how we could use these diverse conditions to make inspirational wines at Santa Carolina. For the last 5 years the Santa Carolina team has been traveling the entire breadth of the Chilean wine region (around 1000km) trying to better understand the development of new wine areas and the best match of soil + weather + grape variety for each one. The result is superb wine as nature intended.”

Santa Carolina Sauvignon Blanc Reserva 2011

Majestic Wines RRSP £9.99

Leyda Valley

The wine: This crisp Sauvignon Blanc exhibits a pale sunny yellow hue with aromas of dry citrus that come through on the palate. Notes of orange blossom and a hint of tropical fruit round its smooth acidity into a lingering finish. Alejandro enjoys this wine with Fish and chips, “I love this wine with a white fresh fish in a perfectly crisp beer batter. The acidity of this sauvignon Blanc balances the oily texture of the dish.”

The terroir: Beautiful Sauvignon in Chile is usually grown in granitic clay or sandy loamy soils, as in Casablanca or Leyda. These soils contain primitive rocks embedded for millions of years. Soil affects the minerals that the plant can use for growth giving a different ph value and acidity to the grapes. However, for the development of the aromas profiles and taste palate the weather has a bigger influence than soil.

Weather changes sugar storage in the grape and rate of acid degradation, and also the development of aroma precursors (the notes which will give way to flavours, notes and aromas as the wine matures), so put simply the cooler the valley the higher the acids and more aroma precursor created in the grape on the vine.

In the Casablanca Valley the soils range from sandy loamy to slightly granitic and the main aroma character of Sauvignon Blanc here is citrus notes and strong acidity. In contrast the Leyda Valley with ancient granitic and loamy clay soils, gives the wine a very rich texture and solid mouth feel with pleasant complexity in the nose moving close to white fruits and gooseberry.

In Santa Carolina Sauvignon Blanc Reserva we have a full range of aromas going from grapefruit to gooseberry (no heavy vegetable notes) and a mouth full of complexity with nice length but with the crisp acidity that refreshes the palate.

In looking for the perfect terroir for the reserve Santa Carolina used originally grapes from Elqui Valley to Bio Bio passing through Casablanca and Leyda valleys. There were singularities and individual expression in each valley, but only in Leyda did the team feel happy with the mouth feel, natural acidity and way in which the aromas were expressed. In 2008 Santa Carolina decided to change the Sauvignon Blanc vineyards from Los Lingues in the Rapel Valley and put all our efforts into three different spots of the Leyda valley.

Santa Carolina Specialties Sauvignon Blanc Ocean Side 2011

Oddbins RRSP £14.99 
San Antonio Valley

The wine: A clear and early morning brightness manifests itself in this classic Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, recalling the consistent sunlight in San Antonio. It reveals strong notes of minerality and pronounced acidity with fresh peppers, and has refreshing notes of thyme, lemongrass, and lemon balm with a round finish.

Alejandro enjoys this wine with the Chilean Ceviche; “soaking fresh Chilean seabass in freshly squeezed lime juice, red onions and coriander is common in all coastal villages. Our Sauvignon Blanc enhances all those juices.”

The terroir: The reserve experience inspired the team to take it a little further with the new Specialties range. Leyda is just one part of a new and exciting undiscovered terroir called the San Antonio Valley. It is divided into four sectors: Leyda, Lo Abarca, Rosario, and Malvilla and the entire valley sits right on top of the cold Pacific ocean.

It is the closest Chilean wine region to the Ocean and the oceanscape quickly turns into rolling green hillsides, now bedecked in Santa Carolina vines. It has taken strong-willed wine-growers to plant so close to the sea and patience to see how the flavours have developed. In just over 300 hectares of planted vines Chardonnay and Sauvignon are prevalent with some Pinot Noir and Merlot producing lovely spicy reds.

The soil is granitic from pre-historic rock and there is a huge difference in temperature from day to night caused by cooling winds coming in off the cold Pacific Ocean. This means the grapes can stay on vine for longer, developing lemongrass, fresh pepper and thyme notes. Consistent sunlight and cooling nights yield wines with crisp lean acidity, authentic minerality and a lovely roundness and robust length. This creates a unique and concentrated mouth feel which is all about the cleanness and freshness.

The terroir is in the glass and it’s only natural that we drink it with fresh seafish, seabass and lobster with freshly squeezed lime. The glass of Santa Carolina Ocean Side Sauvignon Blanc transports you to the San Antonio Valley almost literally.

Herencia 2007

A bottle of Santa Carolina ‘Herencia’ 2007 is a celebration of 135 years of heritage and experience. Only 600 cases were bottled with the 2007 vintage, a very scarce and special product; a Carmenère made with the best grapes of our small vineyards of D.O. Peumo. This is a wine which looks for complexity and elegance, which will age lovely.

Carmenère is special to Chile and Herencia is the combination of two great terroirs:  Peumo in the Cachapoal Valley and Los Lingues in the Colchagua Valley.  94% of the blend is Carmenère with the remainder made up of Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon.  85% of the Carmenère comes from our La Rinconada Estate in Peumo and the rest comes from Los Lingues, Alto Colchagua.  Both are ideal terroirs for Carmenère in Chile.  Peumo provides structure, typicity, fruit and concentration to the blend while Los Lingues offers elegance and complexity…

TASTING NOTE
Deep, dark garnet red in appearance and bursting with ripe aromas of plums and cherries mixed with hints of tobacco and clove.  On the palate it is smooth and full-bodied and flavours include cassis and liquorice.  Its tannins are sweet and round while its finish is juicy and persistent.

Santa Carolina

Specialties Range

Santa Carolina’s “Specialties” range is composed by wines that come from newly discovered terroirs, from unique corners of Chile where the search for freshness and uniqueness has brought new wine regions to the world.

It is also a range of re-discovery, recognising heritage and bringing history back to life. Old and forgotten grape varieties, dry farming and never ending root systems, old vineyards and small producers, all together expressing the true essence of Santa Carolina: Chilean Heritage & Innovation.

Reserva Range

Sauvignon Blanc

Chardonnay

Pinot Noir

Merlot

Carmenère

Syrah

Cabernet Sauvignon

Our Reserva range is designed to showcase  the best of Chile. We choose the best region to bring out the best of each grape varietal, so the range is made from grapes grown across Chile.

 

This is a range of wines designed to enjoy with food, so Andres and Alejandro have chosen what their favourite dishes are to accompany each wine.

Chile's Wine Regions

We make our wines from across Chile’s diverse regions and valleys – from northern Elqui to southern Maule, from Coastal Leyda to the Upper Maipo, managing vineyards with a myriad of temperature conditions and soil types.  A diversity that is expressed in our wine portfolio.

Chile

The Spaniard conquerors arrived in Chile in 1541, when Pedro de Valdivia established the city of Santiago. No gold was found, nor any other natural resource that would raise the interest of the Spanish Crown. Those who decided to stay were idealists, men of will and strength.

By the beginning of the 1800s, the whole continent was rebelling against the European King and declaring its independence, founding Republics based on the French Revolutionary ideas. Chile was established in 1810.

France became a model and a symbol of sophistication. The newly self declared Chilean nationals travelled to immerse themselves in the French culture, coming back with ideas, flavours and vines!

Yes, vines. Hence, a country conquered and colonized by the Spanish, developed its wine industry based on the French wine approach. Most plants were brought from Bordeaux just before the Phylloxera outbreak, a disease that destroyed most vineyards in Europe in 1860s.

Chile, an isolated corner in South America, became the last refuge for grape varietals killed in France. With natural barriers, the dangerous invisible bug never developed. Varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Petit Verdot, Carignan…all became comfortable in a land that became the ‘Paradise for Viticulture’.

During these years, Mr. Pereira established Viña Santa Carolina, honouring his wife and beginning a long tradition of winemaking. He decided to bring three French winemakers and the classic grape varieties from Bordeaux. The Maipo Valley begun its journey to become one of the most respected terroirs worldwide.