Casa Marin to release ‘first’ Chardonnay from Chile’s Lo Abarca

Despite a “super difficult” year, Casa Marin, based in the Lo Abarca DO in San Antonio, is ploughing on with new projects including preparing to make its first Chardonnay and releasing its debut sparkling wine, made from Riesling.

Speaking to the drinks business, Felipe Marin, winemaker and viticulturist at Casa Marin, remains upbeat despite a year which saw yields fall by just under half and Covid-19 hit on-trade sales.

Marin is determined to take the positives from 2020 and use the new normal to his advantage. Traffic to the winery’s web page has been increasing and online sales, particularly in countries such as Denmark and Brazil, have seen strong growth.

Marin also wants to become a “pioneer” in online tastings, after hosting successful webinars for clients.

“Online wine tastings are allowing us to have more reach. We’re hosting tastings with 100 to 150 people participating. There is no way in a conventional tasting you’d be able to gather that number of people together so easily,” he said.

He has invested in some 200ml sample bottles and hopes to launch an online event series featuring unusual wines “that people can learn from”, such as tank samples and wines that are yet to hit the market.

As the drinks business reported back in 2016, Casa Marin has made its first sparkling wine, a traditional method fizz made from Riesling. Having spent 36 months on its lees, the first vintage, with a limited production of 1,400 bottles, is due to be released this year.

“The idea is not to make a business out of it, but to show what we can do it this area and with this terroir,” Marin said. “And if one day we decide to make more, we can.”

The cool climate wine estate, which has built a reputation for its white wines, had long been missing a key player: Chardonnay.

Marin told db that the estate has planted its first two hectares of the variety and will make a still wine from the grapes next year.

“Maybe we will ultimately use it in sparkling wine, we don’t know,” he said. “We never planted Chardonnay at the beginning because we didn’t like the variety. I’m talking in the year 2000. Now we’re more familiar with the grape and we’ve tasted some great examples that have changed our minds.”

Casa Marin has also applied for government funding for a large-scale solar panel installation, which will see it source all its energy from the sun. Panels will be installed on the winery roof and car park area, and leftover power will be sold back to the grid thanks to a change in Chilean law.

The team is also renovating and increasing the size of its restaurant and cellar door facility.

2020 and Covid-19

However, Marin did admit that 2020 had been “super difficult” and filled with “many challenges”. Besides the coronavirus pandemic, the vineyards also experienced drought with just 80mm of rain falling during the last growing season.

“We dug pits and found the soil was only moist for the first 30cm, underneath that it was dry like dust,” Marin said. “We ran out of water to be honest. The problem is that we’re so close to the ocean, that if we dig our wells any deeper, we’ll draw up salty water.”

The estate also suffered frost damage to a greater extent than usual, followed by sunburn. It reduced the already low average yield of 4 to 4.5 tonnes per hectare to 2.8 t/ha.

Marin said he was thankful that the area never went into full lockdown, and the lower yield made social distancing easier. Despite increases in online sales, sales in Chile took a hit due to the high proportion of business with the on-trade.

Marin estimates that sales fell by 70% in the domestic market, which accounts for 40% of the estate’s overall sales. The estate was able to save money and keep vineyard staff on by making management staff work half days, with the remaining 50% of their salary part-supplemented by the government.