World > Latin America

Casa Real Hotel

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<p>Chilean wine is finally garnering serious attention, thanks in part to innovative vintners who are outfitting century-old estates with state-of-the-art technology. Among them: Santa Rita vineyards, 25 miles south of Santiago, in the Maipo Valley. Built in 1880 as the spread's manor house, Casa Real was converted into a hotel in 1996. The 16 rooms have a European glamour, with soaring ceilings and French doors that open onto a grassy courtyard with a stone fountain. Service is attentive and unobtrusive—the fruit basket in each room is perpetually full, the bottled water stocked. A horse-and-cart tour trots guests around the 100-acre manicured grounds, and to the cellars to taste Santa Rita's top-rated Cabernets.</p>