Casablanca is the place where passion and know-how are transformed into wine. It was during the year 1980 that Pablo Morandé, who was then working for Concha y Toro, discovered conditions for producing white vinestocks in the Casablanca Valley that were unique in Chile, and similar to those found in the Carneros area of California.

With Sonoma in his mind, Pabló Morandé travelled throughout Chile, searching for suitable land for growing white grapes that would give wine of the same quality as our reds. He sought to recreate in Chile that sea breeze and sandy soil that characterize the Carneros area. Finally he obtained three possibilities: San Antonio, Mulchén and Casablanca. Casablanca was Pablo Morandé's choice.

In that valley he found the same robins and quails, the same herbs, the same grasses, the same thorn-bushes as are found between Napa and Sonoma, just the landscape in which to dream of a green-clad valley, full of vines ready and waiting to give of their bounty. At the beginning Pablo Morandé was regarded as crazy. Nobody believed that vines could be planted successfully on land with a shortage of water, poor vegetation, frosts in winter and extreme swings of temperature between day and night.

Pablo Morandé persevered however, and in 1982 he planted three varieties - Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling - on the twenty hectares he had bought beside the main trunk road in the Casablanca Valley. In 1986 he made his first wine, with results that were more than satisfactory, and thus, slowly, he was able to attract businessmen prepared to invest in his discovery. In 1989 the first two large vineyards, Santa Emiliana and Santa Rita, began to invest in the Valley, which marked the final launching of Casablanca as the best area for grape-growing and wine-making in Chile, as far as the production of white stocks is concerned.
Today there are almost 2,500 hectares planted with vines in Casablanca, and its wines are famed throughout the world. The Valley is situated on the coastal plane, with distant hills and slopes rising no more than 400 metres above sea-level. The warm, temperate climate of the area is greatly influenced by the coastal sea breezes, which mitigate the thermal conditions. The average temperature in summer is 25º and in winter 14º, providing particularly good conditions for wine production. Rain falls between May and October, with a yearly average of 450mm.

The rest of the year is dry. Compared with the other central valleys, one of many differences is the fact that temperatures in Casablanca do not rise above 25ºC in the month of January, added to which there is a considerable variation between day and night-time temperatures. This means that the grapes ripen between September and April, which is quite slow. This explains why in Casablanca the harvest occurs a month later than in the other valleys of Chile. These are details which make it possible to achieve a great balance of sugar and acid in the grapes, which at the same time results in wine with those same characteristics.