Sebastián Labbé is Head Winemaker for Santa Rita’s high-end wines in Maipo Valley, Chile. He joined Santa Rita Estates in 2005 and today leads the winemaking of Casa Real and the winery’s premium portfolio.
His approach has been shaped by more than two decades of harvests, close collaboration with vineyard and cellar teams, and a life connected to the South Pacific Ocean. Over the years, he has come to see great wines as collective achievements—the result of nature, time, and the many people whose work often remains unseen.
Media Inquiries: Leah Isenberg lisenberg@colangelopr.com | https://www.santarita.com/en/
What’s the ONE THING most unique, authentic, & memorable about your brand?
What makes Santa Rita unique to me is the people behind it. Great wines are often presented as the work of one winemaker. After more than twenty years here, I see it very differently. A wine like Casa Real is the result of many hands, many decisions, and a lot of experience accumulated over generations.
Some people prune the vines in winter. Others know every corner of the vineyard because they have walked it for decades. Then there are the people in the cellar, the laboratory and bottling, and the teams working long days and nights during harvest. Most of them will never have their names on a label or in a magazine. But they are all in the bottle.
I see my role as one part of that story. I don’t think we should put ourselves above the wine. We should put ourselves at its service: pay attention, listen, make the best decisions we can and, eventually, leave it in good hands for the people who come next. That is what feels most authentic about Santa Rita to me. Behind one bottle there are many people, many years, and many stories. Most remain invisible. The wine is what brings them together.
Describe how and what you’d do with your winemaking career or winery business if you were not constrained.
If there were no limits, I wouldn’t build a bigger or flasher winery. I would create a place where people could experience time through wine. Wine is one of the few things we make that keeps changing long after our work is finished. An old bottle can take you back to a season, a vineyard, a group of people and a moment in a country’s history.
I would love to create a living library of Chilean fine wines – not only Santa Rita, but great wines from across Chile. A place where young winemakers, sommeliers, journalists, collectors and wine lovers could open these bottles together and understand what our vineyards become after twenty, thirty or forty years. We spend a lot of energy talking about the next vintage. I would like us to spend more time learning from those who came before. Chile has an extraordinary wine history, and much of it is still sitting quietly inside bottles. I would love to help open that history, share it and pass it on.
What is the One Wine most emblematic of your brand and/or winemaking style? Tell us its story.
If I had to choose one wine, it would be Casa Real Cabernet Sauvignon. Not simply because it is our flagship, but because it carries so much of what I have learned about wine over the years.
Casa Real has taught me that consistency is harder than brilliance. It has taught me that patience is often a better decision than intervention, and that every vintage has something different to say. The challenge is not to force every year into the same shape. It is to protect the wine’s identity while allowing the season to speak. Most of all, it has taught me humility.
Casa Real existed before me, and one day it will continue without me. I actually find that reassuring. It reminds me that my role is not to leave my signature on the wine. It is to put myself at its service, understand what nature is giving us and make sure the next generation receives it in even better condition than I did.
If someone opens a bottle of Casa Real, of course I hope they enjoy the wine. But I also hope they can somehow feel the people, the place and the years behind it. That, to me, is its real character. Stay tuned, this wine review is coming soon!
Bonus Question: Why Winemaking?
I live beside the South Pacific Ocean, and the first thing I do when I get home is look at the sea. I watch the waves, the wind and the movement of the water. I’m trying to understand what is coming. If I’m going surfing, I’ll often count the sets before paddling out. If the wind is building, maybe it is a day for windsurfing. You learn not to start with what you want to do, but with what nature is offering you. The South Pacific has probably taught me as much about winemaking as any vineyard has.
Everything is alive and everything changes. No two days are the same, just as no two seasons are identical. You observe, you try, sometimes you get it right and sometimes you don’t. Making mistakes is part of learning. I remember the moment I understood in the ocean that you cannot swim straight against a strong current. The harder you fight it, the more energy you waste. You have to understand the current, move with it and use its force to help you find your way back to shore.
I think about wine in much the same way. Nature is always in charge. Our job is not to defeat it or impose ourselves on it. We need to be humble and attentive enough to understand its messages, adapt to its rhythm and use what it gives us in the best possible way.
That is probably why, after all these years, winemaking still fascinates me. Every harvest starts again. There is always something new to understand.