SANTA ISABEL ESTATE

Casablanca Valley is on the road to the Pacific Ocean from Santiago. Visitors making the trip from the capital, however, must be patient in finding the Viña Santa Carolina vineyards, passing miles ad miles of vines before reaching the property. In fact, the Santa Carolina estate, Santa Isabel, is the westernmost of all the Casablanca Valley vineyards, appearing just before the highway shoots through a final ridge of coastal hills and heads down to Valparaíso and Viña del Mar.

A mere 12 miles (19 km) from the ocean, Santa Isabel is shared estate vineyard for Viña Santa Carolina and its sister winery Viña Casablanca. Being so close to the ocean, climate is Casablanca Valley´s primary distinguishing characteristics. The hills to the west are hardly high enough to protect the valley from morning fog and ocean breezes. The Pacific Ocean off Chile´s central coast is cold, its waters fed by the Humboldt Current, so those breezes almost always moderate the warm valley temperatures.

Rainfall in the region averages between 15 and 18 inches (380 - 450 mm) per year, making irrigation a necessity. Unlike in the other Chilean winegrowing regions, however, no river runs through the valley, forcing growers to dig wells for scarce water and to carefully monitor their drip irrigation.

These factors, combined with somewhat sandy and shallow soils, result in low yields of grapes that often are among the last to be picked in Chile, as much as 30 days after the Maipo Valley, in fact. White wines from these grapes have well-developed flavors and wonderful aromas held together by firm natural acidity. Reds are grown on the warmer, sun-exposed hillsides.