Domaine Nico La Savante Pinot Noir 2018 (750ML)

95 JS / 95 WA / 94 VM

Domaine Nico is the world's first extreme high-altitude parcela Pinot Noir. It is an unusual location for the New World with limestone soil of alluvial origin and cool climate and a labor of love for the Catena family. The vineyard is named after Laura's daughter, Nicola, whose name pays homage to Nicola Catena, Laura's great-grandfather and founder of the Catena winery in 1902. Laura has been in love with Pinot Noir since her first travels to France as a teenager. A self-avowed francophile, Laura studied French throughout university. She has a lifelong obsession with authors Sartre and Camus, as well as with the Louvre and the Centre Georges Pompidou, where she has spent countless hours. With Domaine Nico, Laura borrows from France in the names of the wine parcels and in the concept of individual terroirs, but also plays with the words to give the wines a modern twist that’s reflective of their style.

Fragrant, savory baking spices and dried red cherries abound here. Some violets and a fresh, foresty herb edge, too. The palate presents layered, pastry-like sheets of attractively dense, fine tannin and long, rich, red-cherry flavor. Drink or hold. James Suckling

The 2018 La Savante Pinot Noir was produced with fruit from the vineyard called El Mirador, 1.45 hectares planted in 1994 with Pinot Noir clones 115 and 777 in the monastery part of Gualtallary at 1,450 meters in altitude. It is soft and caressing, aromatic, complex and nuanced with an ethereal texture and very fine tannins. It fermented in oak roll fermentors and small 800-liter vats and matured in French oak barrels for 18 months. It's not easy to decide which one is best, but in this 2018 that they call a classical Mendoza vintage, I feel the Le Paradis has a little more complexity. But for the price difference, I'd go for this La Savante. 5,953 bottles produced. It was bottled in December 2019. –Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate

A Pinot Noir from the Adrianna Vineyard, Gualtallary, grown at 1,450 meters above sea level and aged for 18 months in 10% new French barrels. Bright red in hue. The exotic, reductive nose delivers mushroom, pencil box, cedar and a little earth and rose petal. Quite saline, offering sustained flavors, a chalky structure, noticeably well-packaged freshness and an aftertaste of acid fruit. This is an extremely rich wine, but unboxing all the different but similar layers is a little tricky.-- Joaquín Hidalgo, Vinous Media