The Drink Business
byColin Haythe3/24/2025
Las Pizarras Chardonnay 2023 (Aconcagua Costa DO; 100% Chardonnay; 100% whole-cluster, gentle pressing and fermentation in French oak barrels; just 35% malolactic fermentation; aged for 11 months in 400-liter French oak barrels, 12% new and 10% second use; 12.5% alcohol). Wild herbs – garrigue and oregano. White pear. Blood orange. Quite rich aromatically, but bitingly fresh on the attack with searing acidity taking charge and releasing a lovely spiral of freshness around a well-defined central spinal column. But the wine really needs it. For me it’s almost too rich. Lots of good choices have been made to retain as much freshness as possible here, but this still loses just a bit of shape towards the end – a battle between richness and acidity that the former wins, admittedly by a whisker.