Viña Santa Rita eyes Southeast Asia for Casa Real

The producer praises the “strong market” for its icon wine Casa Real, with a growing middle-class in Southeast Asia offering fertile ground for premium Chilean wine.

Members of the Viña Santa Rita team at Vinexpo Singapore.

Viña Santa Rita stands as one of Chile’s largest wine companies and its strategic brand, 120, is the nation’s best-seller in its homeland. Yet the winery is increasingly targeting new markets, with Southeast Asia high on the agenda.

Nowhere was that more evident than at this year’s Vinexpo Asia in Singapore, where Santa Rita’s icon wine, Casa Real, was shown to a variety of distributors. The wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon from Alto Jahuel in the Maipo Valley, is gaining an international reputation. Having launched on La Place de Bordeaux in 2021, Casa Real is accessible to fine wine lovers around the world.

“The Asian market for Casa Real is going to be a strong market,” comments Marie-Charlotte Fraysse, who was appointed commercial director of Casa Real earlier this year. In particular, she highlights that sales on La Place frequently go to Asia, where the market for fine wines is robust. That is borne out by the data: in 2023, Chile exported 2,349 nine-litre cases valued at more than US$500 to Southeast Asia.

That is particularly relevant to Singapore, the location for this year’s Vinexpo Asia. The mature market is known for its fine wine consumption; for instance, it has the first branch of 67 Pall Mall to open outside Europe and was described earlier this year as a “regional hub” by Charlie Rudd of Berry Bros. and Rudd.

However, with a growing middle-class across the region, Singapore is not the only market that Santa Rita is targeting. “Thailand is a really good market for Chilean premium wine,” comments Fraysse.

The winery is thus placing Casa Real firmly in its fine wine context as it opens new business in Southeast Asia. That, according to Fraysse, entails actively competing with the premium wines of the US and Europe, as well as a targeted distribution strategy that brings it closer to sommeliers.

Fraysse and two colleagues – Rafael Martínez, export commercial director for Asia, and Ylan Tran, export manager for Asia – have been using events such as Vinexpo Asia to meet on-trade professionals and dedicated négociant teams. With around 9,000 visitors attending that show alone, there were opportunities aplenty, with further development in the region indicating the future is bright for the winery.