Bodega Chacra 'Treinta y Dos 32' Pinot Noir, Rio Negro, Argentina 2020

Chacra was created in 2004 by Piero Incisa della Rocchetta, whose grandfather started the legendary Sassicaia Winery in Tuscany.. This vineyard of gnarled and ungrafted Pinot Noir vines was later added to a neighboring vineyard of vines planted in 1955. With these old vineyards, ostensibly in the middle of nowhere, Piero has created a winery that exists outside of the usual New World vs. Old World debate and is redefining what is possible with Pinot Noir (and now Chardonnay with the help of Jean-Marc Roulot) in the Southern Hemisphere. Pieros’ intention was to find the most unobstructed expression of the climate, micro-climate, and terroir of Mainqué in the Río Negro region of Patagonia. In Patagonia, a “chacra” is a special piece of land separated by canals that bring snowmelt from the Andes and make the Patagonian desert fertile.

"Like the majority of these wines, the percentage of wine in concrete that didn't see any oak in the 2020 Treinta y Dos has been increased to 50%, and the remaining 50% matured in French oak barrels (only 10% new) for nine months. It comes from a plot planted in 1932 on clay, sand and silt soils that deliver the most structured of Chacra's reds. The wine fermented in concrete with indigenous yeasts and has moderate 12.5% alcohol, which for a warmer and riper year like 2020, is remarkable. But of course, comparisons bring out the truth: 2020 was quite different climate wise from 2021, and the wines from 2020 show it. There's a little more ripeness, and the quality of the tannins is not the same, probably because of a hurried ripening of the grapes; plus, it's a little grainier and has a little more rusticity in the mouthfeel. It's faintly oaky but only faintly, even if there's no new oak whatsoever." Wine Advocate 96