Michelini i Mufatto Chardonnay “Convicciones”
WHY WE LOVE IT
- Chardonnay from Agrícola La Cautiva in Gualtallary, Uco Valley, from 120-year-old vines at 1,300 meters above sea level, on sandy, calcareous soil.
- The altitude gives the vineyard a distinct identity within Gualtallary.
- One of three whites in the range, alongside Propósitos and Certezas.
Varietal: 100% Chardonnay
Elaboration: The grapes are hand-harvested from the old pergola vines. The fruit is 50% fermentation with skins, pressed halfway through fermentation, then finished in a 1,000 L foudre and aged for one year there.
Tasting Notes: A tense, fresh white with excellent aging potential.
PRESS
2022 – 96 James Suckling | 96 Vinous | 93 Wine Advocate
2023 – 96 James Suckling | 97 Vinoua | 97 Tim Atkina
2024 – 96 James Suckling
PRODUCER BACKGROUND
Michelini i Mufatto is a family winery in Gualtallary, high in Argentina’s Uco Valley, built around a single organically farmed vineyard — Agrícola La Cautiva — at 1,550 meters in thin granite and limestone soils. Wines ferment in concrete and age in used barrels and foudres, with each soil-defined parcel vinified separately. The whites draw on old vines, including a 120-year-old Semillon block and a Chenin Blanc vineyard planted in 1970.
Before this project, Gerardo Michelini helped establish Zorzal with his brothers, one of the wineries credited with putting Gualtallary’s high-altitude terroir on the map. He came to wine through architecture and banking, and now runs Michelini i Mufatto with his wife, Andrea Mufatto, and their son, Manu. The family also makes wine in Bierzo, Spain.