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Casa Silva
Door to the concrete wine tank in the original bodega.Today, May 1, is a national holiday in Chile. It is the equivalent of Labor Day in North America so most businesses are closed. There are a lot of families traveling around enjoying the long weekend.
Last night at dinner and again at breakfast we met Courtney (originally from Boston, now working in Santiago) and Roderigo. They were extremely helpful in describing the local customs and “how things really work in Chile” and gave us several recommendations for places to eat dinner in Santiago.
We got a late check out and managed to squeeze in a tour and tasting at Vina Casa Silva.
Vina Casa Silva
Vina Casa Silva was originally founded in 1892 by a French family from Bordeaux. In 1997 they changed the name to Casa Silva to reflect the current family name. The bodega has a capacity of 9 million liters per year but this year will only be producing 4 million liters.
Our tour guide, Felipe, described the history and evolution of the winery. We could see parts of the original bodega that is a stark contrast from the ultra-modern wineries we have been touring since arriving in Chile two days ago.
Lantern
The lanterns throughout Casa Silva are made from barrel straps. Due to the required additional capacity from the original bodega, barrels are now located throughout various barrel rooms and subterranean tunnels. Casa Silva has more than 3,000 barrels in total.
The used barrels, which have held at least five different wines, are ‘put to good use’ at this point. For example, the steel barrel straps are now used in lanterns that hang throughout the buildings and the former barrel staves now make up the beautiful floor in the restaurant.
Since we had tasted most of Casa Silva’s Gran Reserva wines with our dinners over the past two evenings at the hotel (see our previous blogs for our comments on those wines), we decided to taste Casa Silva’s Reserva wines. These are their lower-end wines and all were, as expected, uneventful.
In South America, in order to taste the premium, or ultra-premium, wines one must purchase the bottle. The sommelier then helps you experience the full taste of the wine. That is why we chose not to taste Casa Silva’s icon wine, Altura, which sells for $90 a bottle. The benefit of tasting with a large group is that you can disperse the cost among all the
Vina Casa Silva
Founded in 1892. participants and taste the ultra-premium wines.
We tasted the following Reserva wines:
(1) 2005 Casa Silva Reserva Chardonnay -- this was a very light wine, pale in color and mild in taste; $9; we rated it a 5.5/10.
(2) 2005 Casa Silva Reserva Sauvingon Blanc - this wine had a faint fruity bouquet (light citrus), very mild; $9; we rated this wine a 5/10.
(3) 2005 Casa Silva Reserva Carmenere - this wine had the distinctive carmenere flavor, spicy, but had a sharp edge; $9; we rated this wine a 5.5/10.
A Little History on Carmenere
When it comes to Chilean wines, Carmenere is the hot topic du jour. As one of those love-it-or-hate-it varietals, Carmenere is the subject of both debate and curiosity.
In case you missed the story a few years ago, Carmenere was widely planted in Bordeaux in the early 1700s, but disappeared from French vineyards in the late 1800s due to a one-two punch of declining popularity (growers began pulling it because of problems with ripening) and phylloxera. When replanting began, the French turned to more promising varietals and Carmenere was eventually forgotten.
Meanwhile, just before phylloxera hit
Destemming at Casa Silva
The production starts here when the grapes are trucked in from the vineyards. France, growers in Chile were busy planting vines they imported from Bordeaux - including lots of Carmenere. Over the years, Carmenere became mixed in with Chile’s Merlot vines, and growers later mistook it for a Merlot clone. French ampelographer Jean-Michel Boursiquot set the record straight during a visit to Chile in 1994, when he identified the country’s mysterious ‘Merlot clone’ as Bordeaux’s long-lost grape. DNA profiling confirmed his theory, and in 1998 the Chilean Department of Agriculture officially recognized Carmenere as a distinct variety.
Since then, marketers have been promoting Carmenere as Chile’s flagship varietal, akin to Malbec in Argentina. Its story is certainly a compelling one, and at their best, Carmenere wines show intriguing characteristics of blackberry, coffee and spice.
Frankly, Bryan is amazed that the Chilean wine ‘experts’ couldn’t identify the grapes that they were growing. This is now a marketing tool that differentiates Chile from other regions. It does, however, say very little for any Chilean involved in the wine industry before 1998. Then again, Bryan is a hard marker. And, yes, he does enjoy a good Carmenere.
On the Road Again
At 1:30 PM, we were back on the road again heading
Barrels
Due to the expansion of Casa Silva, barrels are now tucked away wherever possible. north toward Santiago. The plan was to head back the way we came without getting lost! You will all be pleased to know we executed the plan flawlessly … that is until it got dark (more on this later).
This time we managed to find the Paine exit and skillfully made our way across country in Maipo Valley. It was amazing just how close we were the evening we got lost (we even did a u-turn on the unmarked road we were supposed to go down).
In Isla de Maipo we stopped and took some photos of Vina Santa Ema (which was closed because of Labor Day). The style of Santa Ema’s production facility was ultra-modern and very chic, made of glass, wood and steel.
We continued on to the coast, heading for Cartagena. With renewed optimism in our ability to navigate the back roads with our trusty high-level wine map, we once again turned our car off the main highway and off the beaten track.
We wound our way along the coast past Cartagena to Algarrobo. The Chilean coastline and pounding surf was beautiful.
Algarrobo
By 4:00 PM we were getting a little
Subterranean Tunnels
Felipe explains the Altura wine to Jo-Anne in the subterranean tunnel. hungry so we stopped at a small seafood restaurant in Algarrobo.
Our goal was to find a place with seafood and an ocean view and we were not disappointed with Casta Trariesa. Our table looked right out at the ocean and we were able to watch the surfers ride the waves into the rocky beach.
The real treasure at this stop, however, was meeting Margaret. It’s probably not a surprise that the waitress didn’t speak English. While we were trying to navigate our way around the menu, Margaret came over to our table, at her husband’s prompting, and offered to help us order. Her husband knew that we were in trouble when Bryan was trying to order a pisco sour ‘sin azucar’ instead of ‘pisco sec’ (or dry). Thankfully, he sent her over to help us.
Margaret was from Syracuse, NY and had been living in Chile for 14 years. Margaret explained the menu items to us and then ordered our drinks and food. We chatted a bit and when we asked her for her e-mail address (to send her a link to our blog) she gave us her business card. Margaret happens to be the editor
Barrel Fermenting
Casa Silva is now doing primary fermentation in 500 liter barrels. This barrel, with a plexiglass front, shows the grapes starting to ferment. of Origo, a Chilean wine publisher. She confirmed that trying to navigate using the wine map (which she published) was not the best idea.
Margaret, who has a house in Algarrobo and lives in Santiago, warned us that the holiday weekend traffic could turn a 75-minute drive into a 3 plus hour drive. Fortunately, this was not the case today.
Although the traffic was heavy, there were no delays or hiccups and we made it to the ‘ring road’ in an hour. We followed Margaret’s directions, guessing at the ring road exit; happy when we went by the airport; delighted when we exited at Kennedy Road as instructed.
But it was dark and as you have read in our previous blogs, we become directionally challenged at dust (i.e. lost). The kind gentleman at the Shell Station, who didn’t speak English, spent five minutes drawing us a map to go exactly where we needed to go (the Marriott).
The Marriott Santiago
The Marriott is a U.S. chain, even in Santiago. Thanks to Jo-Anne’s many nights in Peabody and Burlington, and Bryan’s many nights in Charlotte and Costa Mesa (and 20,000 points), we were upgraded to a
Barrels by Restaurant
Casa Silva's restaurant overlooks a very fragrant barrel room. business suite.
We walked next door to a large mall and had dinner at El Parron. With dinner, we had the following wine:
(1) 2003 Vina San Pedro Sauvignon Blanc 35 Sur (Valle Central); 12.5% alcohol; bad; $13; we rated this wine a 2/10.
The meal was below average, but that’s what you get for eating at a shopping mall (with the exception of Legal Seafood, of course). The restaurants that Courtney recommended were not open due to the holiday.
We were disappointed that we were not able to meet Tamara for dinner in Santiago. Bryan met her last year when he dropped into Santa Alicia in the Maipo Valley. Tamara spoke perfect English - well, almost - as she had a distinct Canadian accent ;-). Bryan asked her where she learned to speak English and she said ‘Edmonton, Alberta.’ As it turned out, she went to the same elementary school in Edmonton, Duggan Elementary School, as did Bryan’s brother, Darryl.
We are grateful to Tamara for making all of the appointments at the Chilean wineries we visited and organizing a fabulous tour of the Casablanca, San Antonio and Colchagua Valleys.
We leave for
Casa Silva Tasting Room
The private tasting room is located in the center of the bodega and is surrounded by barrels of wine. the airport at 6:50 AM tomorrow, headed for Mendoza, Argentina.
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Wido
non-member comment
Great blog!
I can taste the wines as I read along !