Alamos Chardonnay 2016
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James
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Robert
Parker
Product Details
Winemaker Notes
Pairs well with grilled chicken, grilled vegetables and pasta dishes.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A fresh and fruity wine with sliced lemon and lime. Hints of stone and apple. Medium to full body, phenolic texture, and a long finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
2016 was not an easy harvest, but resulted in some exceptional wines, and the 2016 Alamos Chardonnay could very well be the best vintage of this popular wine. From 2015, it is only produced with grapes from the Valle de Uco fermented in stainless-steel. Twenty-percent of the volume goes through malolactic and is fermented with inner staves. The nose has abundant balsamic notes, a mixture of flowers, and yellow and white fruit. The palate is dry and balanced, with an austere, mineral feeling to it, incredible at this price level.
Other Vintages
2017-
James
Suckling
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Wine
Spectator -
Tasting
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Wine
Spectator
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Wine
Spectator
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Robert
Parker
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Wine
Enthusiast
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Robert
Parker
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Wine
Enthusiast
Alamos is rooted in the history of the founding wine family of Argentina, the Catenas. With more than 100 years of passion and research behind the wines, Alamos puts the very best of Argentina into every bottle.
In the shadow of the Andes Mountains, Argentina’s renowned Mendoza wine regions and high-altitude vineyards develop bold, unique flavors in extreme conditions found nowhere else on earth: incredibly clean air, intense sunlight, frosty cold nights and mineral-rich Andes snowmelt that irrigates the vines. From these highly distinct vineyards, Alamos offers authentically flavorful Argentine wines.
Alamos Head Winemaker Lucía Vaieretti grew up in Mendoza’s high desert vineyards. Her family has tended vines there for more than 40 years, and she has developed a deep bond with this distinct place. When Lucía was young, she worked the vineyards with her family. “Even then,” Lucía says, “I knew we were in a special place.”
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
By far the largest and best-known winemaking province in Argentina, Mendoza is responsible for over 70% of the country’s enological output. Set in the eastern foothills of the Andes Mountains, the climate is dry and continental, presenting relatively few challenges for viticulturists during the growing season. Mendoza, divided into several distinctive sub-regions, including Luján de Cuyo and the Uco Valley, is the source of some of the country’s finest wines.
For many wine lovers, Mendoza is practically synonymous with Malbec. Originally a Bordelaise variety brought to Argentina by the French in the mid-1800s, here it found success and renown that it never knew in its homeland where a finicky climate gives mixed results. Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot and Pinot Noir are all widely planted here as well (and sometimes even blended with each other or Malbec). Mendoza's main white varieties include Chardonnay, Torrontés, Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.