From a total of 500 wines tasted in Chile, Argentina and Brazil, Viña Santa Rita’s icon wine obtained the highest award, in addition to being chosen as Best Chilean Wine, Best Red Wine in South America, and included in the “Six Stars” ranking with 96 points.

Casa Real Reserva Especial 2019 received the highest recognition awarded by the Brazilian competition Best Wines BW, the icon wine of Viña Santa Rita, which, in addition to being chosen as “Best Wine of South America”, was highlighted as “Best Red Wine of South America”, “Best Chilean Wine” and “Six Stars” for its 96 points.

This competition is organized by three of the most traditional wine media groups in Brazil: Baco, Prazeres da Mesa and Vinho&Cia, which through this initiative, reward the best wines of South America. On this occasion, more than 500 labels from Chile, Argentina and Brazil were blind tasted during the year by a panel of experts, subject to rigorous evaluation criteria.

Santa Rita’s icon wine, highlighted as a leader in the Southern Cone, combines the exceptional terroir of the Alto Jahuel vineyards in the Maipo Valley, the nobility of Cabernet Sauvignon and a great winemaking experience. These awards are proof of the unique personality of this vintage as the ultimate expression of Chilean red wine, from one of the best terroirs in the world for the production of this variety.

“It is an enormous recognition that fills us with pride and allows us to show the potential of Alto Jahuel with a variety as emblematic for Chile and the world as Cabernet Sauvignon. Harvest after harvest we work and take care of every detail, from the pruning to the bottle, to continue with the legacy that began 30 years ago with the first Casa Real vintage. We seek to position this variety and Alto Jahuel at the top of viticulture”, said Sebastián Labbé, winemaker of Casa Real.

Renowned wine critics lead Best Wines: Marcelo Copello, Georges Schnyder, Regis Gehlen, Ricardo Castilho and Sergio Queiroz. Together with other Master of Wine teams from these three countries, they blind tasted the wines in groups up to 10 samples from the same category. Each of the members of the jury rates one of them, between 0 and 100 points, on an individual electronic paper that includes sensory impressions. The statistical average between all the results is the final score.

The initiative grants recognition to the diversity of participating wines, selecting and recommending those with greater quality, as well as granting a label and diploma with their qualification. Only the best receive the Six Stars label, and the wine with the highest score gets the title of the best in the category.