Winemaker Notes
Pair with: steaks, venison, game birds and ripe blue cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The aromas here shows currants and roses and follow through to a medium to full body, with juicy fruit and ultra fine tannins and a delicious finish. Drink or hold
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Wine Enthusiast
Despite cool conditions in 2011, or quite possibly because of them, this is thriving. Aromas of cedar, earth, spice and berry fruits are stylish and comported. The palate on this perennially superb Cabernet is focused, intense and balanced. Flavors of spicy red currant and briary berry are thorough and finish with length on a mocha note. Drink through 2026. Editor's Choice
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2011 Casa Real Cabernet Sauvignon is a classical Maipo Cabernet with its minty aromas, cedar wood, tobacco, spices and anherbal twist. The palate is seamless, juicy with very good balance, refined tannins and a remarkable length. It's not easy to reach the level of the 2010, but this 2011 is almost there. Bravo!
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Wine Spectator
Plush and spicy, with rich-tasting, juicy flavors of dark cherry, raspberry and plum tart. Delivers sleek mineral and slate notes, leading to a finish that oozes with chocolate mousse and cream accents, with hints of mint. Drink now through 2019.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
The Maipo Valley is Chile’s most famous wine region. Set in the country’s Central Valley, it is warm and quite dry, often necessitating the use of irrigation. Alluvial soils predominate but are supplemented with loam and clay.
The climate in Maipo is best-suited for ripe, full-bodied reds like Cabernet Sauvignon (the region’s most widely planted grape), Merlot, Syrah and Carmenère, a Bordeaux variety that has found a successful home in Chile.
White wines are also produced with great prosperity, especially near the cooler coast, include Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.