Casa Real 2023: A South American icon

Sebastián Labbé walking between vines — Sebastián Labbé, winemaker at Viña Santa Rita.

(Image credit: Supplied by Viña Santa Rita)

Published 24 September 2026 In Features

‘Casa Real has always prioritised balance over potency,’ says Sebastián Labbé, winemaker at Viña Santa Rita in Chile. Labbé continues a legacy that began with the singular goal of raising Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon to the level of some of the world’s greatest wines. The first release of Santa Rita’s iconic wine was the 1989, a vintage that was featured by Decanter in its ‘Wine Legends’ series.

Over three decades later, Labbé is continuing the tradition at the Carneros Viejo and Población vineyards in Alto Jahuel in the Maipo Valley. The team manages 20ha of vines divided into eight different blocks and 25 micro-parcels. Vines were planted in the 1970-80s in alluvial soils rich in gravel. It is these conditions that help shape Casa Real’s depth, structure and cellaring potential: defining characteristics of this celebrated expression of Cabernet Sauvignon.

‘Casa Real has always prioritised balance over potency.’
Sebastián Labbé, winemaker

2023: A precision harvest

In 2023, winegrowers were faced with high temperatures in February and March. Careful fine-tuning was needed at harvest to preserve balance, freshness and tension. ‘Warm vintages remind us that the great wines depend on a proper understanding of the vineyard rather than just following the calendar blindly,’ says Labbé.

The results have exceeded expectations in a challenging year. The first international reviews highlight its consistency and quality in spite of the difficult conditions. In the glass, Casa Real 2023 offers blackcurrant, ripe cherry, graphite, spices and herbal notes together with refined tannins and persistent acidity. For Labbé, ‘It is that energy that gives Casa Real its elegance and cellar potential’.

‘The great wines depend on a proper understanding of the vineyard rather than just following the calendar blindly.’
Sebastián Labbé, winemaker

Alto Jahuel authenticity

‘I hope that the world enjoys the authenticity of a wine that could only have come from Alto Jahuel,’ continues Labbé, who believes that Casa Real’s character has never been more clearly defined .

Thirty-six years on from the first vintage in 1989, the ambition that drives Viña Santa Rita burns as bright as ever. Casa Real 2018 was offered on La Place de Bordeaux for the first time in 2021. This year, six vintages later, this Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon returns to showcase an identity, longevity and sense of place that will satisfy even the most demanding of palates.