Passing By: Jamie Verbraak of Casa Marin Winery Chile

When María Luz Marín, founder of Viña Casa Marin, decided to start the project in 2000 in Lo Abarca, a coastal village in San Antonio Valley 120 kms to the west of Santiago and barely 4 kms from the Pacific Ocean, she was a well- known bulk wine broker in Santiago with a dream to have a winery of her own to produce cool climate wines. She was dissuaded by experts and well-wishers against it because of the problems with the location including the water shortage. She was adamant; and with the very first vintage in 2003 was acclaimed for her high quality wines. Since then she has helped Chile improve its image in the international market for distinct high quality wines with personality.

Jamie Verbraak, the Dutch Commercial Manager of Casa Marín was gushing when describing the passion and zeal of her mother-in-law Maria Luz who she says, is the first woman Chilean winemaker and winery owner, with a degree in agronomy and winemaking from Universidad de Chile. Jamie is visiting India to meet her importer, Brindco. She is on her way from China where she had also conducted a Master Class with Fongyee Walker MW. She proceeds to Amsterdam and London where she plans to meet the importer and some customers before appearing for her exam for WSET Dip before heading home on November 10.

I could not resist her request made through her WSET Classmate Sachin Surish in Bangalore for a private tasting of Casa Marin wines at the Lalit Hotel on Saturday, since I had heard several positive comments about Casa Marin as a cool climate boutique winery during my visit to Chile first in 2010. Jamie had met Maria Luz’s son Felipe Marín in Chile a decade ago and married him. She also entered the family business in 2009; a year after Felipe had joined. She looks after the global exports of the 50-hA, 150,000 bottle winery now.

When she entered the UK market, Maria Luz saw quality Chilean wines positioned at £9.99 in Retail. She was sure that the quality of her wines deserved a better price and targeted placing them at £16.99. After successful wine tastings with potential buyers she was able to fetch the price, says Jamie. Jancis Robinson is all praise for Marin wines and says she would hate to taste them in a blind tasting line-up as she might not be able to spot them as Chilean!

One of the reasons of her high quality wines is the very location against which people had warned her. Barely 4 kms from Leyda Valley, the maximum temperature in summer is 27°C when in Leyda Valley, it is 33°C, making Lo Abarca a really cool climate area. Proximity to the Pacific Ocean also gives a special character to the grapes with distinct minerality.

Casa Marin Riesling Miramar 2015

I knew we were heading for a great tasting with the very first sip of the evening. Very aromatic, light to medium bodied with full of citrus and petrol-ly aromas. Deliciously juicy, mineral, saline and full on the mouth. With endless after-taste, vibrant and seductive, difficult to resist after every sip, it reminds you of excellent dry German wines in Rheingau. Surprisingly, a heavenly match with the garlic prawns that might otherwise pair well with a fuller bodied Chardonnay. I loved drinking on its own-though it released some of its hidden charm with food. Excellent structure with high acidity as the backbone, making it age-worthy for possibly 10 years, if stored properly. 91/100 (with food 99/100)

Casa Marin Sauvignon Blanc Cipreses 2016

This wine seems to combine the beauty of New Zealand Marlborough and Sancerre though leans towards latter because of herbaceous character. Cool climate notes all the way but very fleshy, punchy, rich, mineral and engaging with excellent mouthfeel and a persistent taste and length. It has a lot of personality, character and attitude.  My first impression was that it was slightly closed and needed a few minutes of decanting. Very vivacious wine that went well with Gnocchi with thick red sauce. Surprisingly, it had not gone as well with the garlic prawns earlier as did Riesling. Alcohol at 14 % is a bit high but well integrated; she defends it by saying Felipe believes that roundness and fuller flavours, well integrated alcohol is what he is looking for in his wines.  It will  sing for at least another 8-10 years. 94/100

Casa Marin Syrah Litoral 2012

One whiff of the wine and you feel you are sniffing a cool climate red and have entered the wholesale spice market in Delhi. Full of multiple spices including black pepper, white pepper, cloves and a lot of red fruit, it feels like a North Rhone Syrah. Again, high acidity is the backbone and makes it fresh on the nose and the palate. It’s not a fruit bomb but quite elegant and balanced. A delicious food wine that went superbly with the gnocchi in red sauce, interspersed with thin pieces of aubergine-almost like Juliennes, making it a perfect food-wine match. 92/100

If you have an evolved palate and a pocket to match-or not, these wines would help you dispel the wrong notion that Chilean wines are always nice but cheap -they can be very high quality and even at higher prices, can have an excellent PQR (Price, Quality, ratio) with the terroir of the valleys playing an important role, coupled with the role of the winemaker. Jamie tells me the wines are under label registration by Brindco and will be available in the market early next year. I don’t mind salivating till then, whenever I think of them. I hope she and her husband Felipe will be here to conduct bigger tastings for Indian wine lovers with more labels.  

Subhash Arora

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