2018 Chacra 55 Cincuenta y Cinco Pinot Noir

The 2018 Cincuenta y Cinco follows the breathtaking 2017 with an extra degree of elegance and filigree. This wine has reached an amazing level of sophistication and nuance. There are tannins there, and there's more power and clout than the lightish color and perfumed nose might point at. 2018 was an easier vintage to ferment; they had very good yields and natural balance in the grapes that were extremely healthy. They didn't need to cool down the grapes because the weather was colder, even if they picked a little earlier to avoid the need for any acidification; in Patagonia acidity can go down very quickly in the vine, so if you pick too late you need to acidify. The full clusters fermented with indigenous yeasts, and the tannins seem to be driven more by the stems than by the pips; the stems are always ripe because the luminosity in Patagonia is amazing, but the wine is at a low 12.5% alcohol. This is very low in sulfur, as they have lowered the addition of it after the experience with the Sin Azufre. Twenty-five percent of the volume matured in concrete and the rest in used barrels. The wine was kept with the lees and never racked for the eight months the élevage lasted. There is cleanliness, there's purity and, again, light and energy, and there is no reduction. 20,388 bottles were filled in December 2018.