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
Plenty of red berries, moss, decayed roses and flowers with a hint of orange zest and truffle. Really tangy and bright on the palate with super fresh acidity and a lasting finish. Really nimble, elegant and succulent. Silky and sexy. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Histoire d’A Pinot Noir comes from the Monasterio subzone of Gualtallary (still not officially approved) at 1,350 meters in altitude. It fermented with 50% full clusters and aged exclusively in used oak. The wine has a pale and delicate color and a delicate, floral and perfumed nose, with less oak than previous years. It has moderate 12.5% alcohol and a very fine thread in the palate with very fine tannins. It's an improvement over previous years.
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Wine Spectator
Forest floor and baking spice details gather on a lithe frame, with subtle sandalwood accents to the cherry and red currant core, offering a pleasant wave of mineral acidity that lengthens the finish around perky tannins.
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.