Pale gold color; green apple, pear, tangerine, lemon, honeysuckle, bread yeast, hazelnut, minerality on the nose and palate.
Dry; subdued tannins; fresh acidity. Medium body. At six years old, the wine easily remains in its drinking window. Partial malolactic conversion; 20% aged in used oak for nine months. Rich, concentrated flavors; impressive depth and fullness. Likely unlike any chardonnay you’ve tasted: clearly a high altitude, well-made chardonnay. Improves with air in the glass. Drinking very well after six years, dispelling any fears about allowing quality chardonnay to age in bottle. 12.8% ABV
Buscado Vivo O Muerto is made in the Bodega B-70417 operation. Bodega B-70417 is an Argentine winery registration code that appears on several brands of Argentinian wine. The code does not represent a single winery, but is part of Argentina’s wine industry regulatory system—as the alpha-numeric name certainly implies. Buscado Vivo o Muerto Winery is a winery that pursues unconventional wine from marginal and forgotten terroirs in Argentina’s Uco Valley. Hence the dramatic name: “Vivo o Muerto”—“Wanted Dead or Alive.”
The project is a collaboration between Alejandro Sejanovich and Jeff Mausbach, colleagues who worked together at Catena Zapata. Sejanovish is an oenologist and agricultural engineer. Mausbach is a communications expert with extensive experience in global wine distribution. They source grapes from some of Argentina’s most challenging sites. San Pablo is located at 4,300 feet and is noted for producing wines with exceptional freshness and distinctive character, as this effort demonstrates.
Buscado Vivo o Muerto operates under the umbrella of Bodega Mil Suelos, a larger winery project of Sejanovich, Mausbach, and Jorge Crotta. Mil Suelos serves as the production facility. The winery produces some 80 different wine labels sourced from throughout Argentina, including Mendoza, Patagonia, Salta, and Jujuy.
Buscado Vivo O Muerto Chardonnay La Verdad, San Pablo, Argentina 2019 is a distinctive effort from makers exploring exotic, high-altitude vineyards—thus the name “Dead or Alive” (in Spanish). Rich, full, concentrated green apple, pear, citrus. Very crisp. A chardonnay taste you likely have not experienced before, worth the effort to find it. $47
Pairing—seafood; lobster with butter sauce; pan-seared scallops; crab, crab and corn bisque; shrimp with light seasoning; halibut, cod, salmon, sea bass in potato crust. Roasted chicken, chicken piccata, chicken Milanese. Pork dishes with subtle seasoning; veal with subtle seasoning. Risotto dishes with mushrooms or seafood; pasta with cream-based sauces or pesto; linguine with lobster in cream sauce. Grilled vegetables; roasted pear salad; winter squash, butternut squash. Cheese—fresh goat cheese; brie, camembert; gruyère, aged gouda; parmesan, manchego.