Michelini i Mufatto Chenin Blanc “Propositos”
WHY WE LOVE IT
- Chenin Blanc from Finca Villa Seca in Villa Seca, Tunuyán, Uco Valley, at about 1,000 meters above sea level, on deep gravel soils.
- Grown on a pergola vineyard planted in 1970.
- The pergola creates more shade and humidity than usual.
Varietal: 100% Chenin Blanc
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 – 94 Wine Advocate
2023 – 95 James Suckling | 94 Tim Atkins | 94 Vinous
2024 -97 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.