Bodega Chacra

Located in the Río Negro Valley of northern Patagonia, 620 miles south of Buenos Aires and roughly equidistant west to east from the Andes Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. The property's location in central Argentine desert is tempered by the confluence of the Neuquen and Limay rivers. The aridity of the region, coupled with the natural barrier of the surrounding desert, results in an absence of phylloxera and vine diseases. The climate is very consistent with a wide diurnal temperature variation. For the most part, the wineries here produce basic reds.

In 2004, Piero Incisa della Rochhetta, whose family owns Tenuta San Guido, the producer of Sassacaia, purchased the first of Bodega Chacra's vineyards, Treinta y Dos, a small, abandoned vineyard planted in 1932. This vineyard of gnarled Pinot Noir vines was planted on its own rootstock. The vineyard's porous soils are dominated by coarse alluvial pebbles and significant limestone content.

Piero Incisa has also discovered and purchased two other old vine Pinot Noir vineyards which produced two further Bodega Chacra single-vineyard wines beginning with the 2006 vintage. The first, from a vineyard planted in 1955, is called "Cinquenta y Cinco." The second, from vines planted in 1967, is called "Sesanta y Sete." A fourth wine, "Barda," will be produced in later vintages. It will be composed of declassified components of the single-vineyard wines as well as wine from a recently planted, 10-acre vineyard on the original 1932 property.

Farming is organic and Demeter certified biodynamic. The winemaker is renowned Danish-South African vintner Hans Vinding-Djers.

In 2005, a new winery was constructed at the site of the 1932 vineyard. The wines are exported to the United States and vary in price from $20 (Barda) to well over $200. The first vintage was in 2006. A Merlot is also produced - Mainqué.