Winemaker Notes
Hand-picked from their "Alta" San Pablo vineyards located at 1,400 meters above sea level in Mendoza's Uco Valley. This Chardonnay is a golden yellow wine. The aromas and flavors of fresh fruit such as apple and pear, and also crystalline peach combine mineral touches and orange peel. French oak provides notes of caramel and honey. It is a long and very tasty wine on the palate.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The varietal and medicinal 2019 Alta Collection Chardonnay comes from San Pablo and has the freshness of the high altitude and cool zone. It was produced in a traditional (oxidative) way, but they have reduced the percentage of new oak and moved to 500-liter barrels, so the oak is subtler. The wine has balsamic flavors with a touch of herbs and dry flowers and the subdued minerality from the soils. It's fresh even after 100% malolactic.
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.