In a challenging season marked by high temperatures, Viña Santa Rita’s top Cabernet Sauvignon reaffirms its classic essence through precise decisions and meticulous vineyard management. Every choice, from the vineyard to winemaking, seeks to preserve the freshness, finesse, and depth that distinguish the Alto Jahuel terroir in the Maipo Valley, resulting in a wine that is true to its identity—elegant and full of character.

The Alto Jahuel vineyard is undergoing one of the most critical phases of the vine’s cycle. In January, the first color changes in the berries marked the beginning of veraison, a physiological milestone signaling the transition from vegetative growth to grape ripening. Along with flowering, which occurred in November, this stage is crucial in defining the profile and quality of the wine that will emerge from this harvest.

“Casa Real is a wine that does not follow fashions or trends. Its identity is rooted in a classic style: polished tannins, smooth texture, and a solid backbone that allows it to age for decades. Every decision during harvest and winemaking is focused on preserving this essence, honestly and deeply reflecting the unique origin of Alto Jahuel,” explains Casa Real’s winemaker, Sebastián Labbé.

The season was characterized by a particularly dry winter, with only 285 millimeters of rainfall, requiring early intervention in the vineyard cover crops to prevent excessive water extraction from the soil. This was followed by a warmer-than-average spring, promoting vigorous shoot growth and concentrated flowering, with good fruit set and minimal coulure. In terms of style, the current scenario recalls the 2025 harvest, now in its aging phase, projecting wines of great quality and definition.

To date, the vineyard shows excellent balance: well-formed clusters and minimal coulure, which promotes more uniform ripening by allowing better light penetration inside the bunch. Behind this result are key decisions made from the start of the cycle. Casa Real’s style is built from the previous year’s winter pruning, where the viticulture team defines the plant’s load and structure to achieve optimal ripeness. During spring, vigor is adjusted by removing excess shoots, and after veraison, final adjustments are made, discarding unevenly ripening clusters. Continuous monitoring by sector allows identification of different potentials and precise action to preserve the freshness, elegance, and purity that characterize this terroir.

In the winery, the focus remains aligned with the wine’s history: to faithfully express the character of Alto Jahuel, privileging freshness, tension, and perfectly ripe tannins without over-ripeness. Labbé explains that in warm seasons, this translates into more delicate winemaking practices, with gentle extraction and slightly lower fermentation temperatures, producing wines with silky texture, approachable in their youth but with the structure needed to evolve over decades.