2017 Domaine Nico Soeur et Frères Pinot Noir Grand Mère Mendoza 750 ml

If the Pinot Noir wines from Domaine Nico haven’t made your list of “Must-Have” Top Burgundy producers, there’s one, perfectly logical reason: this “very seductive,” 2017 Grand Mère with its “wealth of richness,” may possess all the trappings of Grand Cru Burgundy, only, it doesn’t come from anywhere remotely near France (just don’t tell it that).

This origin story begins in Villa Bastias, a five-acre vineyard of limestone and alluvial deposits, which although akin to the soils of Burgundy, sit about 2,000 ft. higher than any vine up and down the Côte d’Or. Starved most of the year of nutrients (just 10 inches of rain falls in good years), but treated to a white-wash of blazing sun, this country is none other than the high-altitude, impossibly beautiful Uco Valley of Argentina.

The 2017 Grand Mère is one of the crown jewels of the Domaine Nico project, which is poised to redefine South American (and possibly even New World) Pinot Noir by applying Grand Cru Burgundian precision to Argentine terroir. The founder of Nico is Laura Catena—the leader of the Catena Zapata clan that single-handedly turned “Malbec” into a synonym for lush, silken reds the world over. 

Zapata’s high-altitude site provides these reds with tension and grace—it’s a refreshing parallel to their ripe, red fruit flavors, and that exquisite balance is rare to find in reds under $75. Vinous critic Stephen Tanzer’s report “Once Marginal Terroirs Take Argentina’s Wines to New Heights” found “a stunning new set of Pinot Noirs (from Domaine Nico) that leaves me newly confident about the longer-term potential of high, chalky sites in the Uco Valley for this finicky variety.”

A recent string of superb vintages is certainly helping matters along, and 2017, by all accounts, ushered in an exemplary growing season making for extraordinary wines. Winemaker Estela Perinetti cares for the vines and wine in Zapata’s absence. An astute vine-whisperer, Perinetti cut her teeth under the legendary Nicolas Catena, working for a time at Bodegas CARO (the joint venture between Catena and Bordeaux First Growth Château Lafite’s Domaines Barons de Rothschild).
 
Named after Zapata’s grandmother, the 2017 Domaine Nico Grand Mère Pinot Noir began as tight-fisted, small clusters of Dijon Clone Pinot Noir grapes that have been living 3,675 ft. above sea level since 1993—quite mature for the Uco Valley. Native yeast fermented with 20 percent whole clusters, punch-downs done by hand, and aging 14 months in neutral French oak delivers an earthy, high-tone red-fruited wine with juicy, red cherry and strawberry-laced flavors and plenty of energy and mineral cut. Sprinkle in crush stones, black pepper and brown spices to the equation, a wonderfully persistent finish, and that’s a recipe to enjoy now and for the next several years.