Santa Rita Casa Real Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

Professional Ratings

• 95 Wine Spectator
  Big and rich, with an unctuous blend of dark plum, cherry, tar and blackberry flavors that are supported by suave tannins and acidity. Pure and minerally midpalate, with a long finish that's filled with plush creaminess to the cardamom and clove accents. Drink now through 2028.
• 94 James Suckling
  Blackberry, blackcurrant, clove, peppercorn and tobacco-leaf aromas. It’s medium-to full-bodied with rounded, well-integrated tannins. So smooth and creamy with polished spice and chocolate notes to close. Two to three years will really put this in place, but it’s already very attractive.
• 94 Wine & Spirits
  Sebastián Labbé makes this wine from a hillside parcel of 50-year-old cabernet vines at the Santa Rita estate in Alto Jahuel. His 2018 is a beehive of energy, a rush of flavor in bright red fruit, sage, jasmine and rose. In recent years, some of Chile’s top wines have found an eager market in China, and this one feels particularly appropriate to the flavors it might encounter there, from the dark richness of hoisin in red-cooked pork to the glaze on a crisp-skinned Peking duck.
• 94 Wine Enthusiast

  A smooth and attractive nose is anchored by plum and cassis aromas. The palate on this benchmark Chilean Cabernet is electric in feel and boosted by firm but supple tannins and bright acidity. Plum, cassis and cherry flavors are dreamy, while piqued energy reemerges on a vigorous finish.

  Cellar Selection

• 92 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  I found an unusually modern and fruit-driven 2018 Casa Real Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that has for a long time been one of the icons of traditionalism in Chile. It's juicy and ripe with a soft palate and round tannins, relatively simple for the price. 14,500 bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2020 after 18 months in barrel, 83% of them new, but the oak is unnoticeable.