2021 Domaine Nico Soeur et Freres Pinot Noir Histoire d'A Mendoza 750 ml

Every decade or so, a winery will come along and put a new grape/region combo on the world wine map. Stag’s Leap and Montelena did it with Napa Cab and Chard in the 70s. Williams Selyem for Russian River Pinot in the 80s, and Ken Wright for Oregon a decade later.

We’re saying right now that history will remember Domaine Nico’s current Argentine Pinot Noirs. The 2021 marks just their fifth ever release—though their oldest vines are over 30 now—but the quality in the bottle is so impressive that they’ve been tightly allocated since day one. 

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 harsh soils of Villa Bastias, 3,675 feet above sea level. The vines grew, scraping for nutrients most of the year and enjoying a wash of bright sun. Fifteen years later, Laura Catena and Alejandro Vigil—Catena Zapata’s legendary 100-point winemaker—headed to these heights, and Domaine Nico was born. 

These are parcela wines, wines from individual plots, and the Histoire d’A is from a tiny 1.75ha vineyard planted at an exhaustion-inducing 4,429 feet in Gualtallary. The high altitude and the winds that go along with it ensure a long growing season, while the region’s dry climate keeps disease pressure to a minimum. 

Laura and her team tailor their winemaking to the seductive fruit the site puts out, with half the grapes left as whole clusters and a very discreet application of new French oak. The result is a wine that will make you—and we think the world—see Argentina’s wines in a whole new light.