✒ Sebastian Zuccardi’s New Releases
There are moments in life which stay with you forever, a crystal-clear picture that is so imprinted in your brain that it could have been yesterday. One such moment which stands out in my decades of visiting vineyards was standing in a pit at the Zuccardi winery in the Uco Valley in Argentina. Sebastian Zuccardi was showing me the soil structure, but I couldn’t help but look up – fluttering above us was a row of coloured ribbons stretching along a row of vines, at odd intervals, sometimes only a few feet apart; it looked as the vineyard had been festooned for a children’s tea party.
When I enquired whether the ribbons were there to scare off the birds Sebastian laughed and said that they were his markings for where the soil composition changed. I knew from earlier conversations that Sebastian was a passionate believer in terroir, but what I hadn’t realised was that he was a borderline fanatic.
So, it was wonderful to catch up with him on his last visit to London and taste his latest releases. He was keen to bring me up-to-speed. There are four revolutions going on in Argentina, he informed me. “The first is reality, everyone is talking about place, no producer is not explaining the place where the vineyard is. The level of knowledge of the different areas is growing a lot.”
The second revolution is the way limits are breaking, with more producers looking further north, further south, further east and higher in the mountains. This is not due to climate change, Sebastian points out, but pushing the expression of the wines.
There is also a style revolution, with an increase of diversity of styles – different expressions, and with over-oaked wines fading out. The fourth revolution is with the white wines. Argentina has always been known for its reds, but increasingly it is becoming known for its whites. “The closeness to the mountains offers unique conditions for white wines, we are mountain people” Sebastian says firmly.
It has been fascinating watching Sebastian’s rise. When I first met him, his charismatic father, José, had just given him the reins. “I was lucky my father gave me the freedom,” Sebastian says, and he has taken the winery – known for producing good-value wines – to one which excites the critics and is creating more and more excitement on the international market. His drive for quality and authentic expression has led him to produce some of South America’s most compelling wines. He reveals one major reason: “We like to work with white gloves, our interpretation needs to respect the interpretation of the place.”
His philosophy is firmly rooted, literally: “I am not looking for a perfect wine, I am looking for a wine that is of its place.” It was clear from the tasting that he is achieving his goal. Here are the new vintages about to be released on the market.
Sarah Kemp.
Wine Notes:-
Fosil 2023
The first vintage of this wine was 2016. I tasted it back then at Prowein, with Sebastian’s father, José, and I remember it clearly. It was the most impressive wine at the event, showing all the finesse of a great Chablis. The wine comes from the San Paolo Estancia area – it is the closest to the mountains, at 1400 metres altitude, 300 metres from the beginning of the mountain. It is the coldest area in the Uco Valley, with granite and calcaire soil, 100% Chardonnay aged in concrete vessels without malolactic fermentation. It has an aromatic citric aroma, with vibrant complex notes of lemon, lime, hints of mandarin and pink grapefruit. Purity, depth, beautiful ripeness and good attack, grip and concentration. Minerality shines through, very long and moreish, elegant and balanced. 13.0%
Botánico, Familia Zuccardi, 2023
This wine comes from the Monasterio part of Gualtallary, the vineyard at 1360-1380 metres at the foot of the frontal range of the Andes. The soil is a compaction of calcaire, sand and gravel. 100% Chardonnay, it is aged in concrete vessels without malolactic fermentation. Rich, ripe expression of apricots and pink grapefruit. Lovely freshness and minerality driving through the wine. There is depth here and complexity. Vibrant and enticing. 13.5%
Aluvional Paraje San Paolo 2021
The Paraje range of wines began in 2008, with the Aluvional series, marking the Zuccardis’ search for a particular identity of site in the Uco Vally. The Aluvinoal San Paolo comes from the IG San Pablo in Tunuyán in the Uco Valley. It is located at 1400 metres above sea level, and has a cold climate. 100% Malbec, the wine is fermented in concrete tanks with native yeasts, then aged in concrete tanks. It has a delightful uplifted spicy herb nose, very aromatic, on the palate there’s wild herbs, a direct expression of garrique, tight black fruit, with sauvage flavours, ripe and intense black fruit, slight bitterness, wonderful grip. Reminds me of Cornas, with its vibrancy and spice and herbs. Delicious. 14.0%
Aluvional Paraje Altamira 2021
From the highest part of Altamira at 1100 metres above sea level. The soil is rich in stones from the alluvial fan with the rocks covered in calcareous material. 100% Malbec fermented in concrete and aged in concrete vessels. Inviting cocoa on nose, bags of energy, attack of blue fruit, round and generous, tightrope tension, freshness and arrows of acidity through, lots of layers, tannins holding everything in place, long and restrained power, delicious dark chocolate kick on the very long finish. 14.0%
Aluvional Gualtallary 2021
From the area in Gualtallary known as Monasterio, this 100% Malbec is fermented in concrete vessels with native yeast and then aged in concrete. Aromatic mountain herbs on the nose. On the palate, it’s suave, with silky and brilliant crunchy black fruit, concentration and deep pool of swirling flavours, bite and grip, balance and drive, very textured, so long, powerful but refined, great expression of terroir. 14.0%
Finca Las Cuchillas San Pablo 2021
Only 2,000 bottles are made of this 100% Chardonnay, whose vineyard is 600 metres away from the foot of the mountain. The word Cuchillas means blade. The soils is a thin layer of gravel covered with calcaire stones at approximately one-metre depth. The wine has an explosive aromatic nose, on the palate it’s rich, deep late-summer fruit, apricots and peaches, an elegant expression of limestone, citric mandarin notes, powerful and deep with piercing acidity, bags of energy, purity, will develop beautifully but hard to resist now. 13.0%
Finca Los Membrillos Semillon 2020
The vines were planted in 2013, a massal selection from the original 1969 vineyard in La Consulta. The vineyard is at 1060 metres above sea level and is surrounded by quince trees. Semillon was the variety that the white wines of the Uco Valley were traditionally made from. The wine is 100% Semillon, fermented with native yeasts in untoasted French oak barrels and larger foudres. Sebastian explained that as Semillon loves oxygen, the foudre was ideal. The wine has a classic Semillon nose of sweet hay and chamomile. A true fine wine, understated and elegant, purity, a Renaissance tapestry of flavours, summer herbs mixed, toasted nuts, oiliness of a fresh almond and delicious fatness on the palate, but poised, with depth and layer upon layer of enticing fruit. Very long and driving power to end. Utterly intriguing. 13.0%
Finca Canal Uco 2021
This was the first vineyard planted by the Zuccardi family in the alluvial soils of Alta Mira in the Uco Valley in 2007; 10,000 bottles are made, with 5,000 of them released on the Place de Bordeaux. 100% Malbec, 100% whole bunch, fermentation in concrete vessels with native yeasts, then aged in concrete vessels. Aromatics jump out of the glass: blue fruit, peonies, violets. On the palate, lyrical blue and red fruit, a whirlwind of flavours, layered, deep and complex with endless savoury surprises, hints of dark cocoa, very muscular and poised. Everything in balance, utter harmony. Terrific length. Hugely impressive. 14.5%
Finca Piedra Infinita 2021
This Alta Mira vineyard is at 1100 metres in shallow soils where it is harvested according to a sequence of 12 soil types. 100% Malbec, fermented in concrete vessels with native yeasts and aged in concrete. Blue notes jumping out of the glass, the wine on the palate is very mineral-driven, intense black and blue currants, deep but very direct, palate packed with minerals, very linear and needs time to relax. 14.0%
Finca Las Cerrilladas Gualtallary 2021
A brooding wine from the Monasterio hills, with the oldest soils in the Uco Valley. Las Carrilladas is from 30 separate parcels of the vineyard, surrounded by native vegetation. 100% Malbec, there are masses of power here, beautifully textured, with juicy, rich, meaty flavours, crunchy bright blue fruit, mountain herbs, all firmly gripped by fine tannins. This wine needs time, at the moment it is a revved-up robust teenager – everything there, but will reward with a few more years in the bottle. 14.1%
Finca Piedra Infinita Supercal 2021
The 0.93 hectare plot which produces this wine in the northwest sector of the Piedra Infinita vineyard is surrounded by 30% natural vegetation – biodiversity thrives here. The soils are stony, with large granite rocks covered in calcareous material. 100% Malbec, fermented with native yeasts in concrete vessels. Peonies, aromatic nose, purity Jane Austen elegance, blue fruit, very precise, layers but gently revealing themselves, depth and complex layers, like going down a tunnel, to the sea, then waves of minerals lapping, slate, iodine, freshness, very marine, interpretation of an old sea bed. 14.0%
Finca Piedra Infinita Paraje Gravascal 2021
The vineyard is planted at 1100 metres in the highest area of the alluvial fan of the Tunuyán River in Alta Mira. The wine originates from a small plot 0.73 hectares in the northwest part of the Piedra Infinta estate, where the Malbec grows on enormous gravels and granite rocks covered with calcareous material. 100% Malbec fermented with native yeasts in concrete vessels and then aged in concrete vessels. The wine has a warm, rich, inviting nose, delightful spice, bright energetic blue and red berry fruit, there is tightness and tension here and luminous purity. You can almost taste the limestone, fine chalky tannins and a very long finish. 14.0%
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