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Australian Winemaker Looks to Chile
Viña Santa Rita adds Brian Croser as consultant for its top wines
Australian winemaker Brian Croser is looking overseas to Chile. Viña Santa Rita, one of Chile's largest wineries, has hired Croser as a consultant. Croser is best known for founding Australia's Petaluma winery in 1976, as well as cofounding Oregon's Argyle winery in 1985 and Australia's Tapanappa winery in 2002.
Croser will work with Viña Santa Rita head winemaker Andrés Ilabaca, focusing on the winery's high-end Casa Real Cabernet Sauvignon, Triple C and Pehuen wines, as well as the winery's Reserva and Medalla Real lines. Ilabaca has been at Viña Santa Rita since the 1996 vintage.
This marks the first consulting job in some time for Croser, who was busy in Australia, California and France during the 1980s. He admits he lost some motivation and stopped consulting abroad.
"But this has really sparked me," said Croser of his decision to work in Chile, where he has been looking for a partner for a few years now. "Chile has an exceptional geographical range of opportunity and Santa Rita is really well-situated to exploit that."
"Of course, everywhere has opportunity, but Chile's is special because of its latitudinal range and its proximity to the cold Humboldt Current and the Andes," said Croser, who has specialized in working in cool-climate wine regions throughout his career.
Viña Santa Rita, based in the Maipo Valley, currently owns 9,800 acres of vines (with 7,400 acres in full production) spread over some of Chile's most important regions, including the Apalta and Marchigue subvalleys of the Colchagua Valley, as well as the Leyda, Limarí and Casablanca Valleys. The winery produces more than 2 million cases of wine annually, with 400,000 cases coming to the U.S.
