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Casablanca

Wine Region

Chile is an extremely diverse wine producing country due in large part to the North/South orientation of its borders.  It is found on the western coast of the South American continent, between the cool Pacific Ocean and the massive Andes Mountain chain.  This long and narrow country stretches over 4300 kilometres from North to South and averages only 177km wide. 

The bulk of the wine production occurs between the 30th and 40th parallels, encompassing an enormous range of climates and topographies.  The 4 main wine producing regions from north to south are the Coquimbo, Aconcagua, Central Valley and South Region.  Casablanca lies within the Aconcagua zone and sits 70km North West of the capital city Santiago.  Due to the proximity to the cold Pacific Ocean Humbolt currents, the cool sea breezes, and the altitude, Casablanca is significantly cooler than the established Central Valley sub-regions (such as Maipo and Rapel).   The mountains of Casablanca rise to a maximum of 2000m above sea level at a latitude of 33 degrees 20 minutes South.  This means Casablanca has a greater affinity with the earlier ripening varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  

This region was first planted in the 1980’s and has proved itself to be a superior producer of these earlier varieties.   Thick morning fog, poor yellow sandy-black clay soils and low relative temperatures in the growing season make for near perfect cool climate viticulture.  The area contains approximately 10 000 acres of vineyards, of which 75% are planted to white wine varieties.   Rainfall is relatively moderate at about 550mm per annum, but irrigation is usually necessary.  While most of the Chilean wine estates are huge broad acre, traditional styled enterprises, Casablanca (and San Antonio) definitely has a more entrepreneurial spirit.  There is some excellent pioneering viticultural work being done here and classy wines to match.  Some of the better producers include Catrala, Kingston Estate, Veramonte, William Cole, Emiliana, Casas del Bosque and Morande.