Bodega Chacra

Bodega Chacra was founded in 2004 by Piero Incisa della Rocchetta, grandson of Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, who planted the original Sassicaia vineyard at Tenuta San Guido in coastal Tuscany in 1944 and went on to define the Super Tuscan movement. Piero spent his earlier career in finance and food in New York before turning toward wine, and his interest in cool-climate Pinot Noir led him to Argentine Patagonia in the early 2000s. The story goes that he and Sancerre native Hans Vinding-Diers (initial winemaker, later joined by other consulting and resident winemakers) found an abandoned and largely forgotten vineyard in the Mainqué district of Río Negro that had been planted in 1932 with ungrafted, pre-phylloxera Pinot Noir of European origin. The vines had survived decades of neglect because Patagonia's sandy soils, dry climate, and persistent winds had kept the area free of phylloxera and the diseases that ravaged French Pinot Noir plantings in the late 19th century. Piero purchased the vineyard, rehabilitated it organically and biodynamically, and built the estate to a portfolio of three principal Pinot Noirs by vineyard age.

• Founded 2004 by Piero Incisa della Rocchetta; the family's prior wine project is Tenuta San Guido / Sassicaia in coastal Tuscany, founded by Piero's grandfather Mario in the 1940s
• Located in Mainqué, Alto Valle of Río Negro, northern Patagonia; the vineyards sit on alluvial sandy soils at roughly 280m elevation along the Río Negro River corridor
• Original 1932 vineyard was abandoned and rehabilitated by Piero on purchase; pre-phylloxera ungrafted European Pinot Noir survived continuously because of Patagonian sandy soils, dry climate, and persistent winds
• Initial winemaker Hans Vinding-Diers (Sancerre origin) established the native-yeast minimal-intervention house style that the estate continues today

Río Negro's Alto Valle is the historic core of Patagonian viticulture, established in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when British engineers built irrigation infrastructure from the Río Negro River to support the area's fruit and vegetable agriculture (the valley is also Argentina's apple and pear belt). Vineyards sit at roughly 280 meters elevation on alluvial sandy soils with limestone, sand, clay, and gravel deposited by the ancient confluence of the Limay and Neuquén rivers. The climate is dry continental: annual rainfall under 200mm, humidity under 30 percent, and a diurnal temperature swing during ripening of 18 to 20°C between hot daytime highs (28-32°C) and cool nighttime lows (8-12°C). Persistent winds from the Pacific (channeled through Andean valleys) keep the canopy dry and disease pressure low. The defining viticultural feature is that the sandy soils have historically prevented phylloxera infestation: the louse cannot move through sandy substrates effectively, so old ungrafted European Pinot Noir vines have continued producing for 90-plus years without disease or replanting. Chacra's three primary plots represent some of the world's oldest continuously producing ungrafted Pinot Noir.

• Río Negro Alto Valle: established late 19th/early 20th century with British-built irrigation infrastructure on the Río Negro River; primary fruit belt of Argentine Patagonia
• Alluvial sandy soils with limestone, sand, clay, and gravel deposits; sandy substrate has historically prevented phylloxera, enabling continuous ungrafted Pinot Noir for 90+ years
• Climate: dry continental, under 200mm annual rainfall, under 30 percent humidity, diurnal temperature range of 18-20°C during ripening (28-32°C peaks, 8-12°C nighttime lows)
• Persistent winds from the Pacific funneled through Andean valleys keep the canopy dry and dramatically reduce disease pressure, enabling low-intervention organic and biodynamic farming

Bodega Chacra's winemaking is built on the principle that great Pinot Noir is grown rather than made: the cellar is deliberately neutral so that the cool-climate Patagonian terroir comes through cleanly. Vineyards are farmed organically and biodynamically (Demeter certified), with horse-drawn cultivation and lunar-calendar timing of major work. Harvest is by individual plot to capture distinct ripening curves across the 1932, 1955, and 1967 vineyards. Fermentation uses indigenous yeasts in a mix of concrete vessels and used French oak, with whole-cluster percentages varying by vintage and parcel character. Maceration is gentle and short, sulfur is kept minimal (often below 30 mg/l total), and wines are bottled unfiltered to preserve textural integrity. The Barda Pinot Noir spends approximately 11 months on lees, split roughly 50 percent concrete and 50 percent French oak. The Treinta y Dos and Cincuenta y Cinco bottlings spend longer in concrete and large foudre, with selective new-oak influence kept to a small minority of barrels. The result is a stylistic signature of pure red fruit transparency, fresh acidity, fine-grained tannins, and a Patagonian aromatic precision distinct from both Burgundian and New World benchmarks.

• Demeter biodynamic certification across the estate; horse-drawn cultivation and lunar-calendar timing of cellar and vineyard work
• Native yeast fermentation, minimal sulfur (often under 30 mg/l total), unfiltered bottling; the cellar is deliberately neutral to preserve terroir transparency
• Concrete vessels and used French oak dominate the cellar; whole-cluster percentages vary by vintage; Barda spends approximately 11 months on lees split roughly 50/50 concrete and French oak
• Per-plot harvest timing across the 1932, 1955, and 1967 vineyards captures distinct ripening curves and aromatic precursor preservation in each parcel

The Chacra portfolio is numerically organised by the planting year of each parent vineyard, creating a uniquely transparent reading of vine age and parcel character. Treinta y Dos (32) is the single-vineyard expression of the original 1932 vineyard, produced in very limited quantities each year and considered the estate's flagship: aromatically intense, structurally taut, and with the depth and complexity that only century-old ungrafted Pinot Noir can produce. Cincuenta y Cinco (55) draws from three plots totaling 7 hectares planted in 1955; the wine is similarly distinguished but slightly more accessible, and represents the producer's most commercially available premium tier. Sixty Seven occasionally appears from 1967 plantings. Barda is the entry-tier wine from the youngest plantings (early 1990s), still organic-and-biodynamic, fermented and aged in the same minimal-intervention cellar, and widely available internationally. The Chacra Chardonnay is a more recent addition, sourced from select estate plantings and made in the same low-intervention style. The wines are distributed internationally through top fine-wine merchants and have become a global reference for Patagonian Pinot Noir.

• Treinta y Dos (32): flagship single-vineyard expression of the 1932 ungrafted Pinot Noir; very limited quantities; aromatic intensity and structural depth of 90+-year-old ungrafted vines
• Cincuenta y Cinco (55): three plots totaling 7 hectares planted 1955; premium tier with broader availability than Treinta y Dos; benchmark Patagonian Pinot Noir for many international wine drinkers
• Barda: entry-tier Pinot Noir from 1990s plantings; organic and biodynamic; 11 months on lees in 50% concrete and 50% French oak; widely available globally and the most common point of entry to the producer
• Chacra Chardonnay: more recent addition; cool-climate Patagonian Chardonnay in the same minimal-intervention style; emerging as an internationally-recognised white wine expression of the Río Negro Valley

Bodega Chacra's emergence in the late 2000s and 2010s fundamentally re-positioned Patagonia as a fine-wine zone within Argentina's international image. Before Piero Incisa's project, the country was internationally known almost exclusively for Mendoza Malbec; Chacra demonstrated that Argentina was also capable of producing world-class cool-climate Pinot Noir of Burgundian depth and longevity, on ungrafted vines that no longer exist in commercial production almost anywhere else. The Treinta y Dos has received consistent 94-to-97-point critical scores from Wine Advocate, Vinous (Antonio Galloni and Stephen Tanzer), Wine Spectator, and James Suckling, and the wines feature prominently in international fine-wine auctions and top sommelier programs. Piero Incisa's profile and the Incisa della Rocchetta family lineage gave Patagonia a credibility and marketing reach that few other Argentine producers could match, and Chacra is now widely considered the global benchmark for South American Pinot Noir and a primary driver of the Patagonian fine-wine identity that emerging producers in Río Negro, Neuquén, and Chubut have built on.

• Repositioned Argentine Patagonia as a fine-wine zone in international perception; before Chacra the country was internationally known almost exclusively for Mendoza Malbec
• Treinta y Dos consistently receives 94-97 critical scores from Wine Advocate, Vinous, Wine Spectator, James Suckling; wines feature in international fine-wine auctions and top sommelier programs
• Piero Incisa della Rocchetta's family lineage (Sassicaia) gave Patagonia a marketing reach and credibility few Argentine producers could match; the project's profile elevated the entire South American cool-climate fine-wine conversation
• Global benchmark for South American Pinot Noir; emerging producers in Río Negro, Neuquén, and Chubut have built fine-wine identity on the path Chacra established from 2004 onward