2020 Domaine Nico Pinot Noir Grand Pere Mendoza 750 ml

Laura Catena’s exquisite Burgundian-style Domaine Nico Pinot Noirs have been tightly allocated since day one.

The 2020 vintage is just Domaine Nico’s fourth, yet procuring the wine is the kind of grab-it-or-it’s-gone proposition that we associate with lofty Burgundy properties. That’s because Catena, in just a few vintages, has managed to establish Domaine Nico as the definitive South American Pinot Noir, and it’s one of the most elegant outside of the Côte d’Or—not something that we say lightly. 

Our relationship with Laura landed us a TINY allocation of the 2020 Domaine Nico Grand Père, which shows exactly why the hype is deserved. Boasting an impressive 94-point score, it’s a Pinot of gorgeous freshness, tension, and lift.  

In 1993—a decade before Argentine wine became synonymous with rich, inky Malbec—the Catena family planted two hectares of Pinot Noir vines in the poor soils of Villa Bastias, 3,675 feet above sea level.  

Fifteen years later, Catena and Alejandro Vigil—Catena Zapata’s legendary 100-point winemaker—headed to these heights to scout out the finest sites for Pinot Noir, which Catena was convinced could thrive in the high-altitude Uco Valley. Domaine Nico was born. 

These are parcela wines—wines from individual plots—and Grand Père comes from vines planted by the Catena family three decades ago. As opposed to the Grand Mère parcel, which gets more sun, the shaded Grand Père site yields grapes with delicate red fruit and bright acidity. 

After 15 months in 20% new French oak barrels, this Pinot is drinking beautifully. It’s truly exciting to see an expression like this coming from Mendoza, and it’s the kind of exquisite wine we’re starting to expect from Domaine Nico year in and year out.