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Chacra is located in the Rio Negro Valley of northern Patagonia, 620 miles south of Buenos Aires. It is roughly equidistant from the Andes and the Atlantic. In 2004, Piero Incisa della Rocchetta of the renowned winemaking family responsible for the creation and success of Tenuta San Guido (Sassicaia), purchased the first of vineyard land, which is now Chacra. At the time the property contained an existing, albeit abandoned vineyard planted over seventy years ago in 1932. Piero was called from his multigenerational Italian winemaking family to the southern hemisphere, compelled by the goal to produce world-class Pinot Noir from uncharted territory.
This singular vineyard at Chacra is of thick, pure, gnarled Pinot Noir vines, plants from their own rootstock producing tiny bunches of small, concentrated berries which are harvested by hand. No automation or mechanization is employed at any stage of the production process. The grapes are refrigerated to preserve the freshness of their fruit, and then hand de-stemmed and sorted before being moved to cement tanks for fermentation.
Winemaking continues at Chacra with an organic and biodynamic approach, in the most natural manner and the first wine vinified at the estate is “Treinta y Dos.” When the alcoholic fermentation is complete, the wine is transferred off the skins into small French oak barrels in the most gentle manner possible, by gravity, without pressing or filtering. Bottling takes place around the first week of March without fining or filtration. The objective is for the oak, the fruit and the nuances of the soil to marry perfectly so that the influence of the wood is nearly imperceptible in the wine and the vine and character of the land are expressed to their fullest.
The 2018 Cincuenta y Cinco follows the breathtaking 2017 with an extra degree of elegance and filigree. This wine has reached an amazing level of sophistication and nuance. There are tannins there, and there's more power and clout than the lightish color and perfumed nose might point at. 2018 was an easier vintage to ferment; they had very good yields and natural balance in the grapes that were extremely healthy. They didn't need to cool down the grapes because the weather was colder, even if they picked a little earlier to avoid the need for any acidification; in Patagonia acidity can go down very quickly in the vine, so if you pick too late you need to acidify. The full clusters fermented with indigenous yeasts, and the tannins seem to be driven more by the stems than by the pips; the stems are always ripe because the luminosity in Patagonia is amazing, but the wine is at a low 12.5% alcohol. This is very low in sulfur, as they have lowered the addition of it after the experience with the Sin Azufre. Twenty-five percent of the volume matured in concrete and the rest in used barrels. The wine was kept with the lees and never racked for the eight months the élevage lasted. There is cleanliness, there's purity and, again, light and energy, and there is no reduction. 20,388 bottles were filled in December 2018. Wine Advocate 98 (2018)
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