2018 Chacra Pinot Noir Sin Azufre

There was great precision and purity in the 2018 Sin Azufre, the no-sulfur-added cuvée. This is the wine they do with intuition rather than science. They pick the grapes a little earlier to have better natural acidity. They do not do pump overs or push downs; it's a natural full-cluster fermentation at lowish temperature (20 degrees Celsius) to capture all the aromatics, the fermentation tends to be slow and malo happened in the 3,500-liter oak vats. Sixty-five percent of the wine was in used barrels and the rest in small (1,500-liter) concrete and was never racked. There is a beautiful note of rose petals here, with more complexity and depth than the Barda. It's clean and elegant. You'd never say this is a wine with no sulfur added. It's incredibly hard work to do it, but it's possible. I was very reluctant when he showed me the first trials for this wine, but I'm now a convert. This is only 12.5% alcohol, light and ethereal but with lots of energy. Some 9,000 bottles were filled in December 2018.