BODEGA CHACRA'S PIERO INCISA DELLA ROCCHETTA ON PATAGONIA'S WINEMAKING MAGIC

JamesSuckling.com Associate Editor Claire Nesbitt recently talked and tasted over Zoom with Piero Incisa della Rocchetta of Bodega Chacra in Patagonia, Argentina. They tasted Chacra’s latest vintages of pinot noir, including his Sin Azufre (without sulfur) wines and old vine Cincuenta y Cinco and Treinta y Dos (which was our wine of the year in 2020), from vineyards planted in 1955 and 1932: structured, mineral and incredibly fresh. “It’s so hard to make bad wine here – the protagonist here is nature.” The 2021 chardonnays, made as a collaboration with Burgundy’s Jean-Marc Roulot, are taut, focused and precise. The grapes for Chacra Chardonnay are from vines grafted onto 40+ year old merlot vines. Both the pinots and chardonnays are intellectual and full of tension yet immensely drinkable. 2022 has been slightly more complicated, with sudden rain during the red grape harvest (the whites are so far looking to be the “best since 2017”), so that the grapes were picked later; they are currently maturing in a mix of concrete, clay and used oak barrels.