Tasting Notes
James Suckling 95
Tangy and focused nose, effusing mineral allures, lime juice and green apples. Very bright and chalky palate, seeped with a waterfall of fresh acidity. Zingy, nimble and medium-bodied white with lots of purity and drive in the mouthwatering finish. Pure, focused and super delicious with a mineral finish. Irresistible now.
Tim Atkin 95
The cool 2021 growing season produced what Sebastian Zuccardi calls his favourite ever vintage of Fosil . Showing the focus and freshness of this 1,400-metre site, this is indeed a lightly wooded delight, all crunchy acidity, citrus peel, aniseed and lemongrass flavours and a stony, oyster shell finish.
Vinous 97
The 2021 Chardonnay Fosil from San Pablo, Uco Valley was 30% aged in 500-liter barrels, the rest in concrete. Yellow in the glass. The nose offers notes of linden blossom, apple, country herbs and a hint of huacatay, a mountain herb. Dry in the mouth with a chalky feel and expansive freshness that brings nuance and depth; the flow is ethereal and saline while the finish lingers at leisure. The conditions that year really helped to dial up the quality, surpassing previous vintages. A complex, refined expression, tight like the best bands and continuing the austere spirit with which Fosil made its name.
Robert Parker 96
2021 seems like a very good vintage at Zuccardi, and they consider it a superb year for whites. The 2021 Fosil has lower alcohol (12.8%) and a sharper profile and is austere, young and subtle with a seamless palate with great freshness, balance and elegance. In this cooler year, they used more oak, because they feel that the wine needs more oxygen in cooler years and less in warmer ones. So, this 2019 fermented and matured equal parts in concrete and used 500-liter oak barrels for around eight months. But the wine shows no oak, and certainly no more than the 2020 I tasted next to it, but the two vintages show different profiles. This should develop nicely in bottle. 6,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in December 2021.