2017 Bodega Chacra "Sin Azufre" Pinot Noir Rio Negro

The 2017 Sin Azufre shows superbly, with precision and freshness, full of character. It was produced with grapes from vines that were planted in 1980 and worked biodynamically, from an almost perfect vintage, and it is racy, floral and with a lot of tension. It fermented in round, wide, shallow 3,800-liter concrete vats with indigenous yeasts with full clusters and no extraction, in an infusion way. Twenty percent of the volume spent six months in used barriques, while the rest was kept in concrete. Floral, ethereal and aromatic, it has clean, focused aromas and flavors, great elegance and lots of energy. Simply irresistible! So, it's a lot of work, but it can be done. (LG)

This has been one of my favorite bottlings of Pinot in the store for the last several years. There is always something very captivating about this wine. The wine tickles my palate, the method of production a vineyard work tickle my brain. Let's get to the later first. It is old vine Pinot, from the same vineyard as the Cincuenta y Cinco bottling from the producer. It is harvested a few days earlier than the traditional bottling and makes it without sulfur "sin azufre". Piero Incisa della Rocchetta meticulous winemaking crafts a "natural" wine that is clean and precise while simultaneously being earthy and savory. For me it is like drinking an untranslated version of Patagonian Pinot. You didn't know you wanted one until you try this. The nose is broad, with equal parts fruit and savory notes. Mixed fruit and berries with an earthy/mineral thing that is equal parts Sancerre blanc and Graves rouge that has been sitting in the sun all afternoon. I know, run with it, there is a little magical realism with this one. On the palate it is that same mix of fruits and berries with a dash fruit skin bite and more of that earthy savoriness. The wine glides across the palate then start to take on more weight, the tannins that you thought that were not there, slowly reveal themselves and the best part is the finish. It goes and goes but it starts and stays on the tip of your tongue. That sun-soaked earthy, mineral, Patagonian stoniness does something that I have never experienced from any Burgundy. Even more fun is to have this wine with the Cincuenta y Cinco, what a difference and few days and sulfur makes. It is beautiful but totally different. That is the kind of experience that will reinvigorate your love for the mysteries of wine, or at least it does for me.