Domaine Bousquet Gran Bousquet Chardonnay 2024, Gualtallary, Uco Valley, Mendoza, Organic

Gran Bousquet Chardonnay is the top Chardonnay in Domaine Bousquet’s range. The grapes come from the organic Eva Estate in Gualtallary, high in Mendoza’s Uco Valley at around 1,200 metres, where intense sunshine and cold nights give ripe fruit with refreshing acidity. The grapes are hand-harvested early in the season and pressed at low temperatures. Fermentation takes place in oak barrels with native yeasts, and the wine is then aged for around six months in French oak.

Domaine Bousquet Gran Bousquet Chardonnay is generous and polished. The nose shows ripe pear, white peach and white fruit, with coconut and vanilla from the oak. On the palate it is smooth, creamy and rich, with good volume balanced by a refreshing seam of acidity that keeps it lively through the finish.

Serve it with roast or grilled chicken, pork, creamy pasta, risotto, salmon or grilled vegetables. Chill to around 10–12°C, and don’t serve it too cold or you will mute its texture. It is drinking well now and will keep for 3–5 years.

Domaine Bousquet is a family winery with French roots and an Argentine home. Jean Bousquet, from a winemaking family near Carcassonne in southern France, fell for Mendoza on a visit in 1990 and in 1997 bought wild, unplanted land in Gualtallary, high in the Uco Valley at around 1,200 metres. Organic farming has been used since the first vines went in. His daughter Anne Bousquet and her husband Labid Al Ameri now run the estate. The entire production is certified organic, the vineyards and winery are farmed biodynamically, and Domaine Bousquet holds Regenerative Organic Certification and B Corp status. Sunshine, cool mountain nights and stony, free-draining soils give the wines ripe fruit with natural freshness.