Chardonnay Clásico Mendoza 2020 – Kaiken

The grapes to produce the Chardonnay Clásico Mendoza Kaiken were hand harvested throughout February and manually sorted once in the winery. Fermentation lasted for 20 days at 15°C in concrete tanks with selected yeasts. The wine matured in bottle for a month prior to release.

The grapes come from vineyards in the Agrelo zone, 40 kilometres from the city of Mendoza and at an altitude of 950 metres above sea level. These vineyards feature soils composed of silt, clay and sand with stones derived from erosion from the Andes Mountains. The region’s climate is warmer than that of the Uco Valley and has excellent diurnal range, which allows Kaiken to obtain grapes with expressive fruit aromas and flavours.

Kaikenes are wild geese, native to Patagonia, that fly across the Andes between Chile and Argentina. In the same way, Montes, the Chilean winery, crossed the Andes to set up in Mendoza. Their vineyards are situated in the heart of Mendoza and further to the south in Valle de Uco, where many of the premium producers are now sourcing their fruit. The focus is primarily on Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, a variety that has been somewhat forgotten as Malbec has surfed one wave of success after another in the past decade. As a result, there are many old vineyards in Mendoza that produce excellent fruit. Kaiken’s own vineyards supply 70% of their production requirements and 30% is from vineyards that they control.