Winemaker Notes
Serve Histoire d'A with Thai green curry, balsamic roasted chicken, steak with Béarnaise sauce, or charcuterie.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This has aromas of strawberries, raspberries, crushed stones, vanilla pods, dried flowers, spice box and sweet licorice. Medium-bodied with silky tannins and a juicy, succulent palate, filled with sweet berries and spices. So much joy.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I still noticed the influence from the élevage in the 2020 Histoire d’A Pinot Noir. The wine comes from a warmer year and is riper and has slightly higher but still moderate alcohol at 13.5%. Pinot Noir is quite sensitive to heat and shows quite differently in cooler and warmer years. The palate also shows abundant, grainy-textured tannins that give it a faint rusticity.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
With a winning combination of cool weather, high elevation and well-draining alluvial soils, it is no surprise that Mendoza’s Uco Valley is one of the most exciting up-and-coming wine regions in Argentina. Healthy, easy-to-manage vines produce low yields of high-quality fruit, which in turn create flavorful, full-bodied wines with generous acidity.
This is the source of some of the best Malbec in Mendoza, which can range from value-priced to ultra-premium. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay also perform well here.