Here is what I said about the winery in May:
“In the power hitter spot is the Los Vascos Reserve 2006, presented by winemaker Marcelo Gallardo. I had the good fortune of visiting this winery last time I was in Chile and took a tour of the winery and vineyards. The land there is absolutely stunning. There is a small hill that we climbed up, which allowed the group of us to look at the entire valley at sunset. I also was able to meet Marcelo, and I am not sure the man ever stopped laughing while we were there. It was a great visit. Los Vascos is definitely one of the largest wineries in Chile and makes a VAST amount of wine, although they only make six wines. What most impresses me about the winery is that they consistently produce wine at a great value. It is also worth noting that Los Vascos is owned by Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite).” (Wines of Chile Online Blogger Tasting, May 20, 2009)
A change that has happened between then and now is a recreation of their website. While Los Vascos used to have its own website, it has since been moved to become part of the Domaine Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) website. But I think that might only be interesting to me.
Another thing that is interesting to me is that this wine has been declassified. In Chile there is no classification system that has anything to do with the actual making of the wine. The terms reserva, gran reserva, winemaker’s reserve, super reserve, oh-man-this-is-so-reserve do not mean anything. Instead it is all about where the wine is from. This Sauvignon Blanc used to be classified as from the Casablanca Valley. The 2008 is labeled “Central Valley,” which means that this wine could come from anywhere in the winemaking regions of Chile. The grapes in this wine do come from Casablanca, with additional grapes sourced from the Leyda Valley, a valley south of Casablanca and within another coastal region named San Antonio. While these recognized wine growing regions are close to each other, coastal, and known cool climate grape producers, the moment that there were more than 15% of grapes from a region other than Casablanca in the wine meant that the label could not say anything but Central Valley.
In-country the laws are a little looser, but since most of the wine in Chile is exported, the stricter laws are followed.
What makes this wine so good is that it has all of the qualities you would want in a Sauvignon Blanc for a bargain price. I found grapefruit, lemon zest, and pineapple in this wine and I wanted a full plate of oysters and another of asparagus to eat. All for the price of $12.
Find this wine here.
Disclaimer: I once worked for Wines of Chile
Others that have written about this wine: http://www.anotherwineblog.com/archives/5276
Others that have written about previous vintages: http://2daysperbottle.blogspot.com/2008/08/los-vascos-sauvignon-blanc-2006.html
