July, 2010.-

This wine is the result after four years of hard work done by San Pedro’s Chief Winemaker of Reserve and Premium Wines, Marco Puyo, who has dedicated lots of time and study to this winery’s vineyards at the Elqui.

Thanks to San Pedro’s pioneering Origin Project, that leads it to create quality wines stemming from unexplored lands and exclusive appellations, this winery discovered the lot number 10 within the Elqui Valley, a place where Syrah grapes mature exposed to the bright mineral glow of the Kankana Mountain, the cleanest skies in the planet and infinite stars, the cool ocean breezes and magical sunsets.

The protagonist of the magnetic phenomenon in this valley is the Kankana Mountain, which, in the Diaguitas language means “camp or cooking fire”, due to the burnt red color its peak acquires during the last light of every sunset. According to local inhabitants, the Kankana is like a great antenna, more than 4,000 meters high, that synchronizes the valley to the purest skies in the world and which thanks to its main component: iron oxide or magnetite, has become the Mystical Alter of the Elqui Valley.

Kankana del Elqui, Solar 10, San Pedro’s Ultra Premium born from the Elqui’s discovery and learning process. A sacred alter for Syrah.

Because recycling is one of the simplest ways in which we can directly participate to help protect the environment, from now on, the Molina Plant will start to separate its wastes in especially designed collectors, differentiated by colors:

- Yellow: plastic and metal. All kinds of lightweight containers such as bottles, bags, trays, food and beverage cans.

- Green: paper and cardboard. Cardboard’s containers (boxes, trays), as well as newspapers, magazines, wrapping paper, flyers, etc. It is advisable to fold the boxes, so they occupy less space.

- Blue: glass. In our case, mainly bottles.

 Especially for this campaign, garbage collectors were created from painted barrels, with trash cans inside and easy to open and close lids.

The Project starts with four green points (so everyone visiting Molina, be sure to cooperate!), located at the: Wine Shop, Casino, Administration and Bottling Area.

There were also implemented 360° Sustainable notice-walls, showing basic data about recycling, the new separation by colors and other information about the care of the environment, besides the winery’s sustainable news, such as the energetic efficiency agreement, the collection of milk-boxes, the organic garden, etc.

 Let’s be responsible with our planet and our environment. Let’s start to work right away in order to leave a better world to our children!

June of 2010.-

The Food & Wine Classic is the most popular “foodie” event of the year in North America. For three days, the stellar line-up of culinary masters and wine connoisseurs share trade secrets and techniques with 5,000 foodies and vinophiles at over 80 cooking and wine seminars, tastings, demonstrations, celebrity chef receptions, parties and other entertainment.

“So, it is the premier wine event in the US, to showcase top wine companies, such as San Pedro, and food related products”, says VP Sales and Marketing North America, Mark Vanston.

In the Grand Tasting Tents featured at the Food & Wine Classic, 50,000 bottles wine were available to sample, among them, San Pedro’s prestigious brands 1865 Single Vineyard and Castillo de Molina, and exhibitors shared their latest products.

This festival is related to the stylish and trend-spotting epicurean American magazine FOOD & WINE, edited by American Express Publishing, a leading luxury lifestyle magazine’s publishing house. This magazine has a monthly circulation of over 925,000 and is online at foodandwine.com.

June, 2010.-

Susan Sterling, renowned hostess of the innovative web-show The Naked Wine Show, reviewed GatoNegro Sauvignon Blanc 2009, as follows:

“It’s Wednesday night, friends just showed up and you wanna have a party. What do you need? Fun, fresh, fabulous wines! …In a screw-cup so you don’t have to do  a whole lot of work.

This is GatoNegro Sauvignon Blanc, out of Chile. They make lots of Sauvignon Blanc in Chile, ‘cause they do it really, really well.

So, into the glass we go….very pale wine. Really intense nose, lemon, lime, slate, grass, herbs. A little tarragon.  Fun and fresh. Just what you’re looking for in a party-wine.

Again, I get that crispy, grassy note, a bit of lemon-lime. So this is terrific, maybe a little shrimp-platter, sitting around, shooting the breeze with your girls…..Happy sipping!”

Every week, Susan gives tasting notes, price points, food pairings, scores and more on The Naked Wine Show, which can be watched weekly on the Internet, or subscribed in iTunes. Her goal is to help people making an informed purchase. Sterling completed her WSET Diploma in January of 2007 and besides her media-linked job, she works in sales for Andrew Peller Limited, company that produces and markets wine products and other beverages in Canada.

Get the whole video-review at: http://www.blip.tv/file/3481703 and also,

watch it on YouTube at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI1dA0l3×6k

United Kingdom, June of 2010.-

The Bobby Moore Fund is a charity in the UK that raises money and awareness for Bowel Cancer. Bobby Moore was a footballer who played in the 1966 World Cup, when England won, which is why the event was held at Wembley football stadium.

The event began with a Champagne reception and then continued with a delicious three-course lunch chosen by W&H Magazine’s food editor, Jane Curran, to match perfectly with the wines. Each course was accompanied by San Pedro wines including the award winning Castillo de Molina Sauvignon Blanc Elqui and 35° South Cabernet Sauvignon. All ingredients celebrated the best of the English summer and Jane Curran stayed on hand to talk guests through the delicious combinations.

Lunch Menu

Starter
Parma ham, lemon and black pepper bocconcini, char-grilled Mediterranean vegetables, pesto focaccia croute

Main course
Roasted pave of Scottish Salmon, dill and crushed new potatoes, sugar snap, mange tout and sun blushed tomato, lemon hollandaise sauce

Vegetarian
Glazed goat’s cheese crotin, pesto dressed mixed vegetables and red pepper oil
Asparagus spears baked in filo over saffron and tarragon Risotto with a Ratatouille of summer vegetables

Dessert
Vanilla Crème Brulee, fresh strawberry juice, clotted cream ice cream
Freshly brewed coffee and selection of teas including herbal served with Petit Fours

This year, the main part of red varieties were late, as well as the whites from Casablanca Valley. Otherwise, the whites stemming from Elqui and Leyda valleys were in line with last years’ date of harvest.

In terms of amounts, this season’s quantities are similar to Chilean historical production averages, but were obviously lower than the ultra-record vintage of year 2009. It’s still too early to state with absolute certainty, but I would say our Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Carmenere are showing quite solid by now. We will also continue achieving excellent quality in our Sauvignon Blanc.

In regards with Cabernet Sauvignon, the most delayed San Pedro’s estate was Totihue, located in the Alto Cachapoal Valley. The accumulation of temperature needed in order to have a good ripeness was reached very late. About three weeks later than on a normal year. We began to pick up the CS in this property on May 6^th and we finished the 21^st. Up to this moment, we have some wine that finished its fermentation process, while others are just fermenting.

Generally speaking, we obtained ripe tannins because we use to take out the leaves around the clusters, in order to have faster and better ripeness.

As far as today, we have a good result in quality, but we need to follow up until the end of the fermentation and the subsequent evolution of wines.

In terms of Carmenere, we obtained good ripeness because the main part of this variety –for the wines I’m in charge of-, comes from the locality called Pencahue (in the Maule valley), well known for its warm temperatures. Thus, this vineyard had a later ripeness than last year, but I think we are going to obtain a good quality from this fruit.

The Syrah from Elqui Valley was picked up this year one week before than the previous one, with a very good result in quality. Elqui behaved completely normal in terms of temperatures this year.

I seize this opportunity to comment that we are just launching our wine KANKANA DEL ELQUI Solar 10, a new extraordinary release from this exclusive origin in Chile’s northernmost viticultural frontier. An additional proof for San Pedro’s tireless spirit of always being searching for new and better sources for our wines and which comes to reinforce our pioneering position in the Elqui Valley.

MARCO PUYO, Chief Winemaker of Reserve and Premium Wines

June of 2010.-

According to Tim North, UK Director at Les Grands Chais de France, San Pedro’s ally in the UK, “we have succeeded in placing Viña San Pedro in the big retailers in such a way as to get people to try the wines. We’ve also been working on product quality, which is very important. Promotions can get people to try a wine for the first time, but quality keeps consumers coming back to buy them again and again, which is why we are seeing developments in sales figures.”

A recovery in consumer’s confidence has made wine sales to grow again, with volumes up 4% –passing the 1 billion-liter mark–, and 7% ahead in value in the year to March 20^th over the same period of 2009, according to Nielsen figures.

On his article “A return to good health”, published in June’s edition of renowned English trade magazine Off Licence News, journalist Nigel Huddleston highlights San Pedro’s triple-digit growth and concludes: “Better distribution, improved wine quality, more carefully planned promotions and changing styles have all played their part in these success stories (…) These growth figures show just what can be achieved with a flexible and consumer-oriented approach to the market”.

The UK is well-known for being one of the most sophisticated and competitive markets worldwide for the wine industry, so being within the Top 20 brands list along names such as Hardys, Blossom Hill & Gallo constitutes a very important achievement for San Pedro wines.

June of 2010.-

“Season 2008 was a good one for San Pedro”, states Puyo, “the vineyard’s yields were lower than the previous years, due to climatic factors, what allowed us to obtain much more concentrated and high quality wines.”

This wine is made of the finest Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, grown in the Cachapoal Valley. The vineyards are planted on the piedmont of the Andes Mountains, on clay and moderately sloped soils. The vinification starts with a cold maceration, then, alcoholic fermentation takes place with selected yeasts and controlled temperatures, and later on, 100% of the final blend was aged for one year in French oak barrels.

This new Cabernet’s vintage is facing a great challenge, being born within one of the Chilean Reserve wine brands with the largest amount of specialized acknowledgements. Previous harvest, year 2007, set the bar really high by attaining very relevant international reviews and awards, among them, three Gold Medals in the competitions Florida Wine and Food Festival Wine Judging 2009 in the United States, the French Challenge International du Vin 2009 and worldwide prestigious Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, on its 2009 edition.  

Castillo de Molina Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 from the Cachapoal Valley is ready and available to delight wine lovers all around the world!

May of 2010.-

In that context, already since year 2006 in a formal way –and many years before that as a test–, saving measures and rational use of water were implemented in San Pedro’s plant located in Molina, at the Curicó Valley, which have allowed diminishing 26% of the hydric consumption between 2008 and 2009, according to the latest measurements.

This encompasses the amount of water used in the production of wine, from vinification up to bottling, as well as on the facilities’ cleaning and worker’s consumption. The measurement corresponds to a rate of the hectoliters of water needed to produce each hectoliter of wine. This number has been consistently falling since 2006. In fact, the goal for last year was to reach a rate of 3.7, what was largely exceeded, by registering a 2.9 rate.

Measures applied in order to achieve this promising goal, among others:             

- keep consumption’s control by area and inform it daily              

- train workers about the rational use of water           

- establish water consumption goals for each area                                       

- change cleaning technology for tanks and bottling lines

- in stead of the pulling process in vinification, to incorporate a “torpedoes” system

- use hydro-wash machines to clean the floors                                                                                    

- eliminate unnecessary consumption points

- reduce the pipes’ diameter on the consumption’s outflows 

These measures are internally widespread, with lots of communication and training activities, because one of the most relevant factors in obtaining more efficiency in the use of water is to develop a powerful sustainable awareness and culture in workers, making everybody to be involved in the same spirit.