Zuccardi

The history of Zuccardi began not with wine, but with water. In 1963, civil engineer Alberto ‘Tito’ Zuccardi planted a vineyard near the city of Mendoza to demonstrate a new irrigation system he had invented. He wasn’t particularly interested in winemaking. The vineyard was a publicity stunt. It worked even better than he’d expected, and six decades later, the family he founded runs one of the most talked-about wineries in South America.

History

Alberto, whose family emigrated to Argentina from the Italian region of Avellino, arrived in Mendoza from Tucumán in the north of the country. His experiment with irrigation in the Maipu area led him to fall in love with viticulture, and by 1968 the family had built a fully-fledged winery. His son, José Alberto, joined the business in 1976 and transformed what had been a mass-production operation into a serious producer, eventually launching the Zuccardi Q range from the 1997 vintage, making it the first premium-class Argentine Tempranillo. The third generation was represented by Sebastián, José Alberto’s son, who in the early 2000s led the family to the high-altitude Uco Valley and, in 2016, opened the current winery in Paraja-Altamira.

Between 2019 and 2021, Zuccardi Valle de Uco was rated as the world’s best vineyard by World’s Best Vineyards and earned a place into the Hall of Fame. In 2022, the estate became the first in Argentina to have three wines awarded 100 points by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.

Vineyards

Zuccardi Valle de Uco owns around 300 hectares of vineyards spread across the Uco Valley in Mendoza, grouped into several estates at varying altitudes and with different soil profiles. Key sites are located in Paraje Altamira, including Finca Canal Uco, the family’s first vineyard in the Uco Valley, and Finca Piedra Infinita, a 45-hectare plot whose name, meaning ‘endless stones’, refers to the more than 1,000 lorry-loads of stones that had to be removed before the vines could be planted.

Other important estates are located in Gualtalari, at an altitude of around 1,360 metres, and in San Pablo, at an altitude of around 1,400 metres, one of the highest-altitude vineyards in the estate’s portfolio. All the grapes used in production come from the family’s own vineyards.

Terroir

The Uco Valley is located in the Andes (first part) in a high-altitude desert, where annual rainfall is too low to grow grapes without irrigation. The vineyards are fed with water from the Tunuyán River, which is fed by meltwater from the Andes. The soils on the estate are alluvial, formed over millions of years by floodwaters carrying stones, sediments and minerals from the mountains. In Paraja Altamira, the soils are shallow, with a sandy surface and a subsoil of large granite stones covered in calcium carbonate. In Gualtallari, the soil is more varied, with clay and gravel from the alluvial fan of the Las Tunas River. Altitude ranges from approximately 1,060 metres in the lower sections of Altamira to 1,400 metres in San Pablo, where low temperatures and a very long growing season lend the wines freshness and structure rather than ripeness and density.

Grape varieties

Malbec is the main variety the family uses to most clearly express the differences between their vineyards. Cabernet Franc and Tempranillo are also grown. The white varieties include Chardonnay, Semillon, Viognier, Albariño and Riesling, and it was this family who first brought the Viognier variety to Argentina. The estate works with both traditional and experimental varieties, and a dedicated research and development team studies the potential of the various terroirs and microclimates of the Uco Valley.

Winemaking

Sebastián Zuccardi, who leads the team of winemakers alongside winemaker Laura Principiano, has shifted production towards minimal intervention. Fermentation takes place in concrete tanks, using indigenous yeasts where possible, and the winery has gradually moved from small oak barrels to large oak foudres with a capacity of 2,500 to 5,000 litres, or to ageing exclusively in concrete.

The winery building itself, opened in 2016 in Paraja-Altamira, was constructed exclusively from natural local materials: stone, sand and water. Its design is entirely underground or blends into the landscape, intended to integrate the building into the surroundings rather than disrupt them.

Wines

The range is organised by tiers based on geographical characteristics. At the core are the Polígonos: Malbecs from specific villages within individual municipalities. The Aluvional series delves a level deeper, reflecting the characteristics of specific parajes such as Altamira, Gualtalari and San Pablo.

At the top are single-vineyard wines, primarily Finca Piedra Infinita, Finca Canal Uco and El Camino de las Flores from Gualtalari, based on Chardonnay.

The estate also produces the broader Zuccardi and Santa Julia ranges for wider distribution.

Overall, the style moves away from the powerful, oaky, robust Malbec for which Argentina is famous, and leans towards something more focused and defined by the characteristics of the terroir.