June, 2011.-

In brief: Our 1865 Limited Edition Blend 2007 has just attained 94 points on Wine&Spirits magazine’s June edition, which published its rankings of the 100 Top Values of the Year and the Year’s Best, featuring as the best score among the new Chilean releases. This, right after –as we informed before-, vintage 2008 of this wine was awarded the Regional Trophy Chilean Red Blend over GBP10 at the Decanter World Wine Awards’11.

In turn, 1865 Single Vineyard Syrah 2007 was reviewed with 93 points on Wine&Spirits February’s edition, also appearing the same month with four stars and marked as a Best Value in the English magazine Decanter, in an article about the Top 50 Syrahs below GBP25, that included Chile within the 5 main Syrah producing regions in the world.

Furthermore, harvest 2008 of this wine was qualified in April with 91 points by American publication Wine Enthusiast, which bestowed the same score and additionally highlighted our wine 1865 Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2010 as Editor’s Choice.

Another outstanding case is our Kankana del Elqui, Solar N°10, which first vintage, year 2007, obtained 90 points in Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate; was highlighted with 91 points and as one of the Top Chilean Wines in WineSpectator’s March issue and has just added some 92 points more stemming from Wine&Spirits’ June’s edition.

October, 2010.- San Pedro

Wine Spectator magazine’s expert, James Molesworth, highlighted   our wine Kankana del Elqui, vintage 2007, through this outstanding score, among seven Chilean exponents which he reviewed on the October 6^th issue of the weekly newsletter called Insider. This only-members publication is where this renowned American media releases some advances regarding “the most exciting new wines tasted by the editors”.

According to the expert’s opinion, our wine Kankana del Elqui shows itself as “dark but pure, with a broad range of damson plum, Black Mission fig, Linzer torte and black currant fruit woven seamlessly and backed by alluring iron, bittersweet cocoa and violet notes. A flash of white pepper lengthens the finish”. This score represents a great first step for this wine on an international level, which we are sure, will be soon followed by other big acknowledgements.

September 2010.-

In his review about our wine, James Molesworth, the specialized magazine’s expert, highlighted its “broad, muscular style, with cocoa and black currant paste notes, followed by fleshy fig, loam and tar. Yet stays fresh, with a lingering tobacco note and nice latent grip”.

A new acknowledgement to the terroirs of our line 1865, that adds to the 90 points awarded by Wine Spectator on its May edition to 1865 Limited Edition Syrah 2007 –which also attained 5 stars in English magazine Decanter, in June–, and also is added to the 90 points scored by 1865 Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2009 on Wine Enthusiast Magazine, in July.

April of 2010.-

The American magazine published a special about Chile, which prestigious wine writer, James Molesworth, entitled “Chile cools off” and where he relates the positive turn of this country towards discovering the cool valleys and their magnificent results with fine wines. Once again, on this review, the Elqui Valley is the star and within this context,   San Pedro is one of the wineries that caught his attention greatly.

Molesworth highlighted our wine 1865 Limited Edition Syrah Elqui Valley 2007, awarding it 90 points, and qualifying it as an outstanding Syrah, crafted from the winery’s cool-climate Elqui vineyards. “…the debut release for one of the new projects under Marco Puyo’s guidance, offers the grape’s typical roasted plum and blackberry fruit, spiked with white pepper and violet hints and a long, rangy finish”, states the expert.

A new recognition from a world-famous critic to our projects at the Elqui Valley, an origin which –be aware!– will very soon come up again with other striking news.

April 2010.-

This video is part of an educational section within this magazine’s website and will be online 3 months.

We hope you enjoy it and share it with your friends and contacts!

Watch the video at: www.winespectator.com/video

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.

Download this article (PDF)

We are particularly proud to announce that Castillo de Molina Sauvignon Blanc from the Elqui Valley received the Decanter World Wine Awards 2009 Trophy for Best Chilean Sauvignon Blanc under 10 pounds. This is the second consecutive year that it has earned this prestigious trophy, and one of only six wines to have received consecutive trophies since the British competition began in 2004!

Prior to this achievement, the March edition of Wine Spectator, one of the most important wine magazines in the US, published a list of outstanding Chilean wines under the title “Bold Reds, Crisp Whites”, which gave 87 points to the 2006 Castillo de Molina Cabernet Sauvignon from Cachapoal. We were featured again, when the magazine’s May 31st edition included winewriter James Molesworth´s special on Chile, entitled “Chile’s one-two punch,” in which he commented that “as red wines continue to surge, whites show marked improvement.”

With respect to San Pedro wines, this renowned critic named the 2008 Castillo de Molina Sauvignon Blanc from Elqui among the most interesting examples of Chilean whites and included the 2006 Castillo de Molina Cabernet Sauvignon from Cachapoal among the 18 Top Value wines in the edition (with 87 points), wines highlighted by their excellent quality-price ratio.

Furthermore, in an attached piece entitled the “ABC’s of Chilean Wine” Molesworth presents Chile’s most important wine regions, and in discussing the Elqui Valley he says that “Viña San Pedro has taken the lead in developing vineyards here, notably for Sauvignon Blanc.”

On the European front, both the major French Challenge International du Vin 2009, and the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles 2009, one of the most important wine competitions in the world, have just released their results and coincided completely in their findings. Each competition awarded Gold Medals to both Castillo de Molina Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 and Castillo de Molina Shiraz 2007.

All of these distinctions recognize, reinforce, and communicate Castillo de Molina’s excellent quality in all its varieties.

We are pleased to announce two new very important acknowledgements to add to the list of those already attained in this young year: In its monthly section on the best wines worldwide, Steven Spurrier, Editor of the British magazine Decanter –the most prestigious in the United Kingdom–, and who also chairs the Japan Wine Challenge competition and, of course, the Decanter World Wine Awards, announced: “This month: a brace each from France, Chile and Spain, featuring a sublime Oloroso, a Cotes du Rhone that punches above its weight and a crisp Sauvignon.” Referring with this latter words to our 1865 Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2008, which Spurrier qualified as the “Best New World White”, and described as “From cool-climate vineyards just 4km from the Pacific Ocean, this is the second vintage by head winemaker Marco Puyo: white flowers lead to precise yet fleshy fruit with a mineral finish. Complex and long”.

At the same time, Kim Marcus, Managing Editor from the American Wine Spectator magazine, and responsible for tasting Austria, Greece, southern France and the table wines of Portugal, praised our Castillo de Molina Sauvignon Blanc Elqui 2007. In a column where the magazine’s editors talk about what they are tasting on their free time, Marcus categorized this wine as a complete revelation. “I approached this Sauvignon Blanc with some trepidation, because Chilean whites have not impressed me in the past. But this wine from Viña San Pedro was a revelation. It was very minerally and zesty, with a rich viscosity”, he stated.

Marcus even commented on the delight of one of his friends, who normally preferred reds to whites, but was a quick converted to the wine. “It is the first white I’ve ever liked so much. It is light, dry and very smooth—without a lot of fruitiness “, she said.

Besides agreeing with his friend, the winewriter scored this wine with 89 points and celebrated its price, commenting it “costs just” US$13 a bottle.

Download this article (PDF)