CASAS DE BUCALEMU

The winemaker

The estate was owned by the Jesuits until their expulsion from Chile in 1778. Since then, it has belonged to the same family, who have two passions: horses and vines. The winegrowing tradition is ancient, as evidenced by the old vines surrounding the hacienda, built in 1858 in the colonial style, but the current vineyards were planted in 2008 when the small San Antonio Valley began to make a name for itself. They are located in the beautiful, undulating Santo Domingo Valley, San Antonio's most coastal sector, just 9 km from the Pacific. The limestone soils, rich in marine minerals and fossils, are the hallmark of this area. The uniqueness of the area lies in these soils and its climate, marked by cool nights and temperatures that rarely exceed 25 degrees in summer, offering Pinot sauvignon grapes to ripen to near perfection. Manual and organic viticulture, parcel-by-parcel vinification, custom fermentation and ageing in foudres and cement eggs: the estate's small production runs the gamut, and the energy of the wines testifies to the uniqueness of this small region apart from the rest of Chile.