Zuccardi wines and Tim Atkin MW

Zuccardi wines and Tim Atkin MW.

Last week we were invited by Pallas Wines for an Argentinean Masterclass including a tasting by Zuccardi at “Relais & Chateaux het Weeshuis” in Gouda. 

For this occasion, Sebastian Zuccardi came over to Gouda, joined by Master of Wine Tim Atkin, who is an expert on South American and South African wine regions and wineries.

Argentina and Zuccardi

Tim started the evening with a short Masterclass on Argentina, Mendoza and the Uco Valley as well as the history of Zuccardi. After this introduction we tasted a selection of the Zuccardi wines, introduced by winemaker Sebastian Zuccardi who is the 3rd generation of the Zuccardi family since it was founded in Maipú in 1963 by Seb’s grandfather Alberto Zuccardi (an Italian immigrant with a background in engineering and irrigation). 

Zuccardi has a focus on Malbec, the grape that has become synonymous to Argentinian wine industry, but produces a number of other great wines all in Mendoza, more precisely the Uco Valley at the feet of the Andes. 

Zuccardi has been awarded with top scores for their wines (100 points on multiple occasions by both Tim Atkin and Robert Parker), placing them in South America’s highest ranked wineries. On top of their wines the winery itself has been awarded “Winery of the Year” 3 years in a row now.

What is interesting about the winery and winemaking style is the lack of oak used. As a matter of fact, Sebastian prefers not to use oak at all, but concrete. Keeps the wines as authentic as possible. This however is a plus if you ask us.

The Zuccardi Wines

We tasted 8 Zuccardi wines which you can find below, including our ratings. The wines where accompanied by some excellent dishes from the hotel’s restaurant Lizz.

Flight 1 (white)

• Polignos del Valle de Uco San Pablo – Verdejo – 2022 (DWA score: 93/100)
• Zuccardi Fosil – Chardonnay – 2021 (DWA score: 94/100)

Flight 2 (red)

• Zuccardi Emma – Bonarda – 2021 (DWA score: 94/100)
• Zuccardi Aluvional Altamira – Malbec – 2019 (DWA score: 94/100)
• Zuccardi Aluvional Gualtallary – 2019 (DWA score: 95/100)

Flight 3 (red)

• Zuccardi Piedra Infinita – Malbec – 2019 (DWA score: 96/100)
• Zuccardi Piedra Infinita Gravascal – Malbec – 2019 (DWA score: 98/100)*
• Zuccardi Piedra Infinita Supercal – Malbec – 2019 (DWA score: 97/100)

*awarded 100 points by Tim Atkin

Conclusion

Zuccardi makes some of the best Malbec wines in the world, their range includes also great wines on affordable price levels. Their Poligonos line is absolute value for money (we will review one of these separately and post them online) and the Piedra Infinita’s are top of the world. Gravascal was even awarded the full 100 points in Tim’s last year’s regional report.  

Besides the leading role they take with their Malbec’s they have experimented with a large number of other varieties, from which some have led to the production of great wines (for example their top Chardonnay and the Verdejo we tasted). It is a winery that has become very successful in the last decades, and has an even brighter future ahead. 

Pallas wines is the proud importer of Zuccardi in the Netherlands and we would like to thank them for inviting us. Also special thanks to Sebastian Zuccardi and Tim Atkin for coming over and educating us.