Santiago, 1st of March, 2010.- An early morning earthquake with a magnitude of 8.8 in the Richter scale shocked Chile’s Central and South Zones on Saturday 27th February.

Fortunately, the whole team in San Pedro is safe and sound. We had only four hurt persons, who have been looked after timely.
San Pedro, member of the VSPT Wine Group, has designed a post-earthquake committee in order to reestablish the normal functioning as soon as possible.

Undoubtedly, this natural disaster has put every Chilean’s ability to overcome mayor difficulties to the test. We are convinced that with everybody’s dedication and effort, we will manage well.

This winery also thanks greatly the innumerable encouraging messages received during the weekend from clients, suppliers and people around the world.

February, 2010.-

 35°South Sauvignon Blanc 2008 was chosen in blind tastings as one of the top 150 winning wines under US$15 and for this reason, featured in the new edition of the world’s bestselling guide to inexpensive wines, The Wine Trials 2010, from renowned US wine-critics, Robin S. Goldstein and Alexis Herschkowitsch.

 This guide hit the bookstores across the United States last November and was among the top wine guides sold on the American on-line shopping website amazon.com through the month of December as Christmas-gift. It will be circulating all this year 2010.

Last night, Wines of Chile, members of the industry and the eleven Canadian judges celebrated with a gala dinner the closure of three days tasting nearly 500 Chilean wines in 14 varieties and two price categories (US$10 -14.99 and US$15 – 25 ).

The competition was hard, but San Pedro shined with its wines, 1865 Single Vineyard Syrah 2007 being highlighted first as Best Syrah and at the end of the evening, chosen as the best wine in the show.

Canada is Chile’s third largest market and this competition, which invited the most influential wine writers from this country’s three major wine importing regions to be judges, helps to build a clearer picture of their preferences.

These are great news to start this year 2010 with more energy and on the right foot!

This is a great honor for Cabo de Hornos, San Pedro’s Icon wine, because this year’s “White Lady’s” journey acquires great relevance and joins the celebrations programmed to commemorate the 200 years Anniversary of the Chilean Independence.

While circumnavigating the whole South American Continent, the ship under the command of Capitain Ignacio Mardones Costa, will visit 18 ports in 217 days of crossing and 20,433 sailed nautical miles.

 At the farewell ceremony on Valparaíso’s Molo, government and navy authorities made a first toast with Cabo de Hornos. Along the navigation, this wine is meant to be the special gift granted by the Esmeralda to its VIP visitors and the ports’ representatives where it reaches land, besides accompanying presentation lunches and dinners offered on board.

Marco Puyo
Marco Puyo, Chief Winemaker of Premium and Reserve Wines

The new vintage of our Icon wine, 2006 Cabo de Hornos, has just been rated with 91 points by James Molesworth, wine-writer of the prestigious American magazine, Wine Spectator for its 31st December issue.

Heading the column about the new releases from wineries around the world, our 2006 Cabo de Hornos appears with
the highest score ( the next one attained 89 points).

Molesworth described it as “Dark, but sleek and polished, with chocolate-covered espresso bean and warm fig sauce notes that glide over a loamy but well- integrated undertow. Roasted sage and tobacco chime in on
the long finish.”

This follows the same path as the 91+ points awarded earlier to this wine, at the Chilean wine ranking published in April by The Wine Advocate, the magazine belonging to the famous American wine-critic, Robert Parker.

A wide ranking acknowledgement granted to the oenological work, the dedication to terroirs and the excellent quality of San Pedro wines.

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In Venezuela, the launching was organized by San Pedro and its importer, Tamayo, during October 5th and 9th, when our representatives visited the cities of Valencia, Margarita, Barquisimeto and Caracas, carrying out presentations for specialized media and the main clients.

Then, in Colombia, the launch took place from the 12th to the 16th of October in the cities of Bogotá, Medellin and Cartagena de Indias, with several presentations of our winemaker as well.

The Bi-Valley concept aims to extract the best elements of two separate origins in order to obtain a perfect balance in 35°South wines, combining grapes of two different, complementary valleys, which contribute to each vine with different attributes each and result in a unique character in every variety.

A dedicated selection of only the best grapes, a vinification in smaller tanks, an aging in selected French and American wood, and an exhaustive oenological work, guarantee a top quality expressed in wines of a greater aromatic concentration and pleasant structure in the red wines, and with a larger volume on the palate, freshness and aromatic intensity in white ones.

The line Reserve Bi-valley offers a Shiraz elaborated with fruit stemming from the Elqui and Aconcagua valleys, a Carmenere from the Maule and Rapel valleys, a Merlot from Maule and Maipo, a Cabernet Sauvignon from Maipo and Aconcagua, a Sauvignon Blanc from Curicó and Elqui and a Chardonnay from Rapel and the southernmost frontier of Chilean viticulture, the Bío-Bío Valley.

This launching had a wide-ranging coverage from the media, being published in the main papers, blogs and specialized web sites from the visited cities.
Some of these notes can be found, for example at the following links:

http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/el-gusto-es-mio/7c645f137f28850cd8b862d66d31f8fb

http://clubamantesdelvino.com/home/2009/10/tamayo-cia-introduce-en-venezuela-vino-chileno-35-sur-reserva/

http://networkedblogs.com/p16398075

http://www.milsabores.net/index.php/2009/10/18/vina-san-pedro-y-su-linea-35-sur-en-vene?blog=5

In Ireland, our 2008 GatoNegro Cabernet Sauvignon beat other two finalists and attained a Gold Medal as the winner of the Best New World Red Under €8 Category in the NOFFLA Gold Star Awards. This is the only local wine competition, organized by the National Off License Association (NOFFLA). This is a big recognition to its quality and a great sales driver, because the winners are promoted through printed leaflets and brochures in all NOFFLA members across the country.

Additionally, on October 24th, the Press Republican Plattsburgh’s wine columnist, Chris Fasolino, highlighted our GatoNegro Sauvignon Blanc on his list of the 10 Best Values he has found along the years he has been writing there, qualifying it as “astonishingly good”. “A light but flavorful white wine, it has vibrant notes of guava and tropical fruit, along with a touch of citrus. It’s from Chile, another emerging region… It goes well with fresh fruit and melon”, stated Fasolino. The Press Republican newspaper is the source for local news from the City of Plattsburgh and the Counties of Clinton, Essex and Franklin belonging to the so-called North Country, the northeastern frontier of the New York State.

Furthermore, our 2009 GatoNegro Cabernet Sauvignon has just been awarded in October another Gold Medal at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles – Chile 2009, this is, the Chilean version of one of the most important international wine competitions in the industry.

This oenological contest awarded 35 Gold Medals on this occasion and our GatoNegro was able to meet the challenge of that kind of acknowledgement, mainly granted to Chilean Reserve and Premium wines.

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