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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 2021 Barda has moderate ripeness and alcohol (12.5%) while retaining very good freshness. After fermenting with some 15% full clusters in concrete with indigenous yeasts, 60% of the volume matured in French oak barrels (10% of them new), usually the more structured lots, while the rest was kept in concrete (the lighter lots) to keep the freshness and crunchiness of Pinot Noir. It was conceived as an easy-to-drink wine from their younger vines, but it has more depth than just that and it's quite versatile with food. 2021 was a cooler year, with frost in the winter that killed all the bugs, and they had a good crop (they usually get 35 to 50 hectoliters per hectare, maybe a little higher for Barda). It's fresh, vertical and mineral with a saline twist that is more noticeable with lower alcohol. It's the same genetic material as the rest, a massal selection planted ungrafted with some 20 years of age, and he sometimes gets declassified grapes or wines from the older vineyards (Cincuenta y Cinco and Treinta y Dos). This is the true second wine from Chacra. It has a pale and bright ruby color and a very clean and expressive nose, with some leafy notes, red fruit, hints of orange peel and a vibrant palate with purity of flavors, young and energetic. Piero Incisa told me this vintage reminds him of 2013; so, I looked up my description of that wine, and it is quite similar to this. Delicious and amazing value. A perfect introduction to Chacra... 70,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2022. Wine Advocate 93+ (2021)
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