2021 | Bodega Chacra | Mainque Chardonnay

This has a complex yet refined nose of sliced apples, peach pits, smoked almonds, wet stones, chalk and white pepper. Hints of beeswax, juniper and cedar, too. It’s medium-bodied, elegant and light-footed, yet powerful, too.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: The 2021 Mainqué Chardonnay is the second white here, produced by Jean-Marc Roulot from 40-year-old ungrafted vines in Mainqué in the Lunita property (where they regrafted the vines to Chardonnay), where they work with cover crops, no chemicals and bees. It fermented with indigenous yeasts, 70% in French oak barrels and 10% each in clay amphorae, concrete egg and stainless steel, and it matured for nine months, 70% in barrel and 10% each in concrete and stainless steel. It has the precision and purity of Roulot, which to a certain extent is the result of thorough work with the press. "He sent us the press program," Piero told me. "And we now have two presses. We are learning." When I thought about what was in common between the reds and the whites, I came up with three words: precision, purity and elegance. It has notes of white flowers and a touch of fennel and other aromatic herbs. Best after 2022.

• James Suckling: This has a complex yet refined nose of sliced apples, peach pits, smoked almonds, wet stones, chalk and white pepper. Hints of beeswax, juniper and cedar, too. It’s medium-bodied, elegant and light-footed, yet powerful, too. Creamy layers of stones and stone fruit slowly evolve to blanched almonds and nougat. Very long and precise. Try this from 2024. From biodynamically grown grapes.

Producer Information

Bodega Chacra is a wine producer in the Rio Negro Valley of northern Patagonia, in Argentina. It was established in 2004 by Piero Incisa della Rocchetta, whose grandfather was responsible for the iconic Italian wine Sassicaia. Chacra has three vineyards of very old Pinot Noir vines, and makes a range of premium Pinot Noir wines in Patagonia. Incisa was initially inspired to create an estate in the Rio Negro Valley in 2001 after a chance blind tasting of a Pinot Noir from the region. He bought a vineyard with vines that had been planted as far back as 1932, and were on their original root systems. Bodega Chacra has since added two more old-vine Pinot Noir vineyards to its holdings – the first planted in 1955 and the second in 1967. The bodega is named for a farming method used in Patagonia – "chacra" is the local word for a square farm divided into four equal squares by canals. This system uses snow melt from the Andes for irrigation, making the Patagonian desert fertile. Poplar trees have been planted around the vineyards to shelter the vines from wind, which can be an issue in the area. The combination of aridity, altitude, low annual rainfall and clean air all help to keep phylloxera and other vine diseases at bay, while providing a good terroir for the production of high quality wine. Grapes are harvested by hand, and are fermented using natural yeasts. The wines are aged in French oak, around 20 percent of which is new. The wine is left on its lees in the barrel for 12 months and bottled without fining or filtration. Bodega Chacra makes three single-vineyard Pinot Noirs: Trienta y Dos from the 1932 vineyard; Cincuenta y Cinco from the 1955 vineyard; and Sesanta y Sete from the 1967 vineyard. It also makes a standard Pinot Noir, Barda, from grapes not used in the singe-vineyard wines and from younger vines in the original 1932 vineyard. Bodega Chacra also makes a Merlot called Mainqué, and a rosé made from Pinot Noir.

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