Las Estelas Pinot Noir 2021

Tupungato, Uco valley, Mendoza

Here at Wellbrook Wines we are quite up-front about the fact that we find an awful lot of South American Pinot Noir a bit of a waste of time, and it is sometimes quite soul destroying when we see very dark, over-extracted wines that have lost all varietal character in favour of ‘safety’, body and alcohol. This wine could not be further from that scenario!

 

Made in partnership with Diego Rosso, whose Pinot vines in Tunuyán are amongst the oldest in the Uco, this is clone 777 planted in the 1990s and made with the utmost respect for this most fickle of grapes. Everything is done by hand, with fermentation in a combination of concrete eggs and old barrels, fully de-stemmed with partial whole bunch. 100% of the wine is aged for 10 months in second use French oak. On the nose, bounteous wild red fruits and the unmistakable whiff of forest floor; in the mouth silky tannins and fresh juicy fruit with a long finish. This is definitely New World Pinot Noir approaching its South American best and sees Argentina taking a seat at the top table. It bodes for amazing things to follow in future.