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 in 1932. Piero was called from his multigenerational Italian winemaking family to the southern hemisphere, compe
lled by the goal to produce world-class Pinot Noir in 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 at Chacra follows an organic and biodynamic approach, in the most natural manner. Once alcoholic fermentation is complete, the wine is transferred off the skins into small french oak barrels in the most gentle manner possible, by gravity. 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. The vine and character of the land are expressed to the their fullest. The first wine of Chacra Treinta y Dos is made from vines planted in 1932. The second, from a vineyard planted in 1955, is referred as Cincuenta y Cinco. The third wine called Barda, meaning the ridge, is a blend of declassified grapes from the single vineyard wines coupled with grapes from a fifteen year old vineyard located on the original 1932 property. Mainqué Rosé, first made in 2013,
also comes from these grapes. In 2015, Piero created Sin Azufre: a handcrafted experiment of making wine without science, using only the eyes, nose, palette, and reasoning as tools. These organic and biodynamic grapes are harvested from a special section of the 55 vineyard. Chacra is located in the Rio Negro Valley of northern Patagonia, 620 Miles south of Buenos Aires, 1,240 miles north of Tierra del Fuego, and roughly equidistant west to east from the Andes Mountains and Atlantic Ocean. The Rio Negro valley itself is a glacial bed 15.5 miles wide stretching 310 miles along the river’s banks at an elevation of 750 feet above sea level.
39 ̊02’26.14S 67 ̊19’38.74W
Chacra’s climate is dry with a maximum humidity of thirty percent and an average annual rainfall of seven inches. This aridity coupled with the natural barrier of the surrounding desert results in a complete absence of phylloxera and vine disease. The air is pristine and without pollution creating tremendous luminosity and purity of sunlight. During the ripening period in the first quarter of the year, diurnal temperatures vary widely ranging from a daily average of 82.4°F (28°C) and a nightly average of 48.2°F (9C). The seasons are precisely defined with hot summers, cold winters, and mild spring and autumns. The Rio Negro Valley is irrigated through a series of
channels excavated in the late 1820s by British colonists. These channels funnel the abundant snow melt from the Andes creating an oasis in the middle of the desert. The main economy of the Patagonian valley has been the production
of fruits: mainly pears, apples, peaches, and grapes.
