Sassicaia + Roulot =
Cult Patagonian Pinot & Chardonnay.

Dear Artisans,

Argentina takes the pitch against Spain in the World Cup final at noon today — and for Team Argentina, we're pouring the most pedigreed wine in the country: Bodega Chacra.

Chacra was created in 2004 by Piero Incisa della Rocchetta — grandson of the Marchese who founded Sassicaia. A Burgundy fanatic hemmed in by what Tuscany legally allows, Piero searched the world for the perfect place to grow cool-climate Pinot Noir and found it in the Rio Negro Valley of northern Patagonia: an abandoned vineyard planted in 1932, gnarled, ungrafted, in the middle of nowhere — and perfect.

The resume since: his Treinta y Dos Pinot Noir scored a perfect 100 points and was named James Suckling's #1 Wine of the Year — the top wine of Suckling's entire Top 100 Wines of the World — from a vineyard making barely 600 cases. His Chardonnay, made with Burgundy legend Jean-Marc Roulot, scored 98 points and ranked #74 in Suckling's Top 100 Wines of the World 2025. And the wine below — Barda — is the phenomenal introduction to all of it, at a ridiculously low price for such miniscule production.

From Chacra's "youngest" vineyards — planted in 1990, ungrafted, on sandy calcareous soils — Barda was conceived to be drunk fresh and young, at a gentle 12–13% alcohol. Fermented cold in round cement tanks with indigenous yeasts, unfiltered, then aged 11 months in half concrete, half French oak (15% new).

The palate is supple yet energetic, carrying its fruit with effortless grace and a whisper of savoriness. It elevates a quiet roast-chicken dinner and holds its own beside a refined meal — unpretentious yet extremely complex, elegant, and simply delicious.

The story begins at a dinner at Guillaume d'Angerville's place, where Piero mentioned his dream of a white cuvée in Patagonia to family friend Jean-Marc Roulot — maker of some of the greatest cult white Burgundies on the planet. Roulot seemed the least likely man alive to jet off to Argentina. Then he visited, and found in his words "a magical place" where "nature is so strong" — a chance to work with a friend, "not trying to make a copy of Burgundy in Argentina... trying to produce a good Chardonnay in Argentina."

That is exactly what they made: three plots of sand over mineral soils with river rocks and limestone, desert weather — hot days, cold nights — giving ripe fruit with electric acidity. Aged in concrete eggs, steel, and used French oak: intense, high-pitched, round yet austere, with the salty mineral cut natural to the area. A totally new white wine.

However the final ends at noon,
Argentina wins in your glass.

The Sassicaia family's Patagonian Pinot — from the estate behind a 100-point, #1 Wine of the Year — for $34.97. The last two bottles of the Roulot-made, 98-point Chardonnay. And behind them, the final ones-and-twos of our Domaine Roulot cellar, from village Meursault to Corton-Charlemagne in magnum.

Kickoff is at noon. Pour accordingly. ¡Vamos Argentina! (Spain fans — your email is in your inbox too. We don't pick sides; we stock both benches.)

Cheers,

— James Tran