2023 Morande Sauvignon Blanc Gran Reserva Casablanca 750 ml

Chile’s Casablanca Valley is a collision of extremes.

Its vineyards are closer to the equator than any European site, yet it channels cool wind currents from the Antarctic. The outcome of this grand climatic experiment: some of South America’s best Sauvignon Blanc, like the 2023 Morandé Gran Reserva. 

With tantalizing tension and energy, this wine is “mouth-watering stuff,” according to a 95-point review from the Decanter World Wine Awards. It’s bursting with notes of tropical fruit, lime zest, green apple, freshly cut grass, and minerality. And the palate matches that vigor with waves of citrus, kiwi, and guava, plus a saline undercurrent and bright, crisp acidity.

Pablo Morandé is one of the Casablanca Valley’s founding fathers, among the first to recognize the region’s immense potential. He planted these vines in 2004–2005, a few miles from the Pacific, where they’re sandwiched between cool waters and the Coastal Mountain Range. 

If you wanted to compare Casablanca to another New World region, the best analogy would be Santa Barbara’s coastline. Both spots are magnificent, benefiting from ocean influence and the shelter of mountain peaks. In Casablanca, the Humboldt Current brings chilly air from Antarctica, maintaining brightness in the wines. With morning fog and cloud cover, the temperatures scarcely ever top 80°F, and plunge overnight. That dramatic diurnal shift stretches out growing seasons, bringing high-acid, small-berry clusters to superb natural ripeness.

Where Casablanca departs from the Central Coast is in the soil. Morandé’s vineyards are planted on ancient granitic clay, where vines send their roots to impressive depths, tapping rich deposits and producing Sauvignon Blanc of complexity and minerality. 

Morandé has channeled that distinctive terroir into a fresh, energetic, and wildly aromatic Gran Reserva.