Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A pretty red with blackberry and licorice character. Crushed black pepper. Full to medium body, peppery finish and a flavorful finish.
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Wine & Spirits
Las Dichas is in the westernmost part of Casablanca, about eight miles off the coast. Kingston farms 345 acres of vineyards on rolling hills, mostly producing grapes for other wineries. They keep a selection of the best plots of syrah for this wine, a creamy red that shows the influence of the sea in its spiced red fruit flavors. It’s soft and friendly, with a distinctive meaty core that incites an appetite for barbecued brisket.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Bright violet. Fresh, mineral- and smoke-tinged dark berry and floral pastille scents show very good clarity and pick up a hint of cracked pepper with air. Juicy, appealingly sweet and lithe on the palate, offering sappy blackberry, cherry compote and spicecake flavors and a salty touch of olive on the back half. In an elegant style, delivering strong closing thrust; smooth tannins make a late appearance. There's superb value here.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
A region that has become synonymous with some of the best whites of Chile, the Casablanca Valley is full of dozens of bodegas who either grow fruit here or come from outside to source from local growers for their own white wine programs. The valley runs from east to west, which means that its westernmost vineyards receive the most cooling influence from the reliable afternoon sea breezes. The soils also tend to be heavier in clay in the west, whereas the eastern end of the valley is warmer and its soils are predominantly granitic. Sauvignon blanc thrives here, Chardonnay does well and Pinot noir is not uncommon.