Casa Marín 2025 Sauvignon Blanc Cipreses Vineyard

ABOUT THE PRODUCER

• Casa Marín sits in Lo Abarca, a village in Chile’s San Antonio Valley just 4 km from the Pacific — the closest commercial vineyard to the ocean in Chile. María Luz Marín founded the estate in 2000, against the advice of colleagues and experts who told her grapes would never ripen there, and remains the only Chilean woman to have founded and made wine at her own winery under her own name.
• The second generation runs it today: Nicolás Marín, Felipe Marín and his wife Jamie Verbraak. Felipe, María Luz’s youngest son, studied viticulture in Sonoma and enology in Marlborough, New Zealand, and has made the wines here for more than fifteen years — minimal intervention, letting Lo Abarca speak for itself.
• The estate farms 40 hectares in 59 blocks, 90% of them on hillsides, some severely steep; Decanter has called it one of Chile’s most radical vineyards. In 2018 Casa Marín was granted its own D.O., Lo Abarca — the first winery in Chile to earn an appellation of its own. Thirty people work here, most for more than a decade.

ABOUT THE WINE

• Cipreses is a selection of the estate’s best Sauvignon Blanc blocks — 4.76 hectares planted between 2001 and 2022, own-rooted, Davis clone 1, on NW/W-facing slopes at 60–120 m.
• The sea breeze hits the vines all day: the stomata close, the vine shuts down, and what is left is a small, low-vigor plant with few leaves and small, concentrated clusters. The soil is calcareous and granitic with very low fertility, and that is where the mineral line and the long finish come from.
• Average temperature in the warmest month of the growing season is 15°C — cooler than Alsace. Mornings are cold and foggy, there is no rain in the growing season, and spring frosts have hit -10°C this close to the water. Yields run 4–5 tons per hectare. Every cluster counts here.

Vintage: 2025 | Wine Type: White Wine
Varietal: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
Origin: Chile | Appellation: D.O. Lo Abarca, San Antonio Valley
Vineyard: Cipreses — own-rooted, Davis clone 1, 2 x 1 m spacing, 60–120 m elevation, NW/W exposure
Farming: Certified sustainable by Wines of Chile; vineyard and winery run on 100% renewable energy. Drip irrigated, vertical trellis, canopy opened by hand.
Elaboration: Hand-harvested from mid-March into early April, picked on taste rather than on a Brix number (fruit comes in around 20–22° Brix). All fruit hand-sorted. Destemmed and cold-soaked 24 hours at ~10°C, with a portion whole-cluster pressed; pneumatic press throughout, maximum 30 ppm SO₂ at reception and less when the fruit allows. Fermented three weeks at 9–12°C in closed stainless steel of 2,000–7,500 liters and in 5,000-liter foudre, with selected yeast chosen to the alcohol potential of each lot. Enzymes for aromatic precursors and low-dose yeast nutrient are the only additions — no acidification, no water, ever. Malolactic fermentation is blocked.
Conservation: 30% of the blend ages four months in neutral French 225-liter barrels; roughly three months of light lees contact with monthly bâtonnage until the final blend. Filtered with diatomaceous earth and through 0.65-micron cartridges at bottling. Bottled August 2025, one month in bottle before release.
Format: 12 x 750 ml
Winemaker: Felipe Marín

TASTING NOTES

Bright and aromatic, with white fruit, ripe mango and fresh herbs leading. The palate is silky and unctuous, with citrus acidity, passion fruit and a mineral edge that carries into a vibrant, refreshing finish. Serve at 46–48°F.

TECHNICAL DATA

Production: 3,250 cases | Alcohol: 13% | TA: 7.4 g/l | VA: 0.30 g/l | Residual Sugar: 1.4 g/l | pH: 3.11

PRESS & POINTS

2025 – 92 Points, James Suckling
Previous vintages – 96 Points, Tim Atkin | 96 Points, La Cav Mesa de Cata Guide (Chile) | 95 Points, Guía Alistair Cooper MW by Catad’Or | 94 Points, Decanter | 94 Points, Descorchados (Latin America) | 93 Points, Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate