Chacra was founded in Patagonia, Argentina by Piero Incisa della Rocchetta, who hails from a long line of winemaking tradition. His grandfather, Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, founded Sassicaia. Since 2004, Chacra has been focused on expressing the terroir of the Río Negro Valley in Patagonia. The climate here is very dry and the absence of vine disease and phylloxera has preserved the very old vines at the property. The soils of limestone, sand, and clay are ideally suited to both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, which Chacra produces along with a small amount of Malbec and Trousseau.
The Chacra Chardonnay is the combined efforts of Piero and Jean-Marc Roulot — the famed vigneron from Meursault. Jean-Marc is a partner and winemaker for the winery, not just a consultant, and has taken the Chardonnay program to new heights. The Chacra Chardonnay is made from 40 year-old vines planted in alluvial soils streaked with calcareous deposits. The wine is aged in a combination of concrete egg, stainless steel, and French oak barriques. Their Mainqué Chardonnay is a selection of three parcels from sandier soils with calcareous matter. The wine is fermented in 25/30% new barrels (the same barrels Jean-Marc Roulot uses in Meursault) and does not go through complete
malolactic fermentation.
Pinot Noir continues to excel at Chacra, notably a small own-rooted vineyard planted in 1932 that provides fruit for the ‘Treinta y Dos’ bottling. This vineyard is certified both organic and biodynamic and the vines are all pre-phylloxera, own-rooted, and planted via massale selection. The resulting wine is an elegantly-structured liquid history of Patagonia’s winemaking past. 60% of ‘Treinta y Dos’ is aged in 4000L concrete tanks and 40% is aged neutral French oak barriques.