Zuccardi Valle de Uco

The winery traces its story to 1963, when Engineer Alberto 'Tito' Zuccardi, obsessed with the constant fight against the desert in Mendoza, planted the family's first vineyard to showcase a new irrigation system he had invented, and in doing so discovered his passion for viticulture. Born in Tucumán in northern Argentina, Alberto had studied engineering; the 1963 vineyard was in the Maipú area, and five years later he broke ground on a winery on the same spot. His son José Alberto joined the company in 1976 and took over leadership of the family business in 1985. In 1999 Sebastián, José Alberto's son, began a personal project with friends to craft sparkling wines in the Uco Valley. He joined the family company in 2002, the year the family began buying grapes in the Uco Valley, and went on to lead its development there. In 2007 the family planted its first Uco Valley estate vineyard, Finca Canal Uco.

• 1999: Zuccardi Q is launched, the first wine bearing the family's name (Tempranillo, 1997 vintage)
• After Canal Uco, the family gradually added Piedra Infinita and Los Membrillos in Paraje Altamira, Las Cuchillas in San Pablo, and Las Cerrilladas and Agua de La Jarilla in Gualtallary
• Los Membrillos, a Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard planted more than 20 years ago by a family of winegrowers from La Consulta, came to the Zuccardis in 2008
• 2009: Sebastián Zuccardi gives new impetus to the research and development department, to study the Uco Valley in great depth
• That work classified microregions by soil type and refined irrigation periods, training systems, grape varieties, and harvest timing

The vineyards are planted in a high-altitude mountain desert, among alluvial soils with large stones rich in calcium carbonate, and the family divided them by soil type before building the winery. Finca Canal Uco takes its name from the Canal Uco, the first canal to draw water from the Tunuyán River. At Finca Piedra Infinita, more than a thousand trucks of stones were moved to make room for the vines, and the winery stands at the heart of the vineyard. Las Cuchillas was chosen for the cold climate and calcareous soils of San Pablo, one of the coldest places in the Uco Valley, with a focus on white wines and different styles of red. All the vineyards are drip irrigated, with irrigation tailored to each soil type.

• Finca Canal Uco: Paraje Altamira, San Carlos; 1,100 m; 58.7 hectares (145 acres); Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc
• Finca Piedra Infinita: IG Paraje Altamira; 1,100 m; 44.6 hectares (110.2 acres); Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Bonarda, Tempranillo
• Finca Los Membrillos: IG Paraje Altamira; 1,060 m; 37.2 hectares (91.9 acres); Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Semillon, Cabernet Franc
• Finca Las Cuchillas: IG San Pablo, Tunuyán; 1,400 m; 40.5 hectares (100 acres); planted starting in 2013
• Finca Las Cerrilladas: Gualtallary, Tupungato; 1,360 m at the foot of the Jaboncillo hills; 32 hectares (79 acres) in 30 parcels
• Finca Agua de la Jarilla: Gualtallary, Tupungato; 1,385 m; 70 hectares (173 acres), with parcels on slopes and terraces; Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay

The range runs across six tiers. Regional wines are Zuccardi Serie A (from 'Argentina Series') and Zuccardi Q, a regional blend from selected Mendoza vineyards. Village wines are the Polígonos line, which shows the identity of a single village (Geographical Indication) of the Uco Valley through different varieties. Viticulturist wines are Zuccardi Blanc de Blancs, Emma Zuccardi, Tito Zuccardi, José Zuccardi, Concreto, and The Amphora Project. Paraje wines are Fósil, Botánico, and Aluvional. Finca wines are Finca Piedra Infinita, Finca Canal Uco, Finca Los Membrillos, Finca Las Cerrilladas, and Finca Las Cuchillas. Parcel wines are Finca Piedra Infinita Supercal and Finca Piedra Infinita Gravascal.

• Parcel: Finca Piedra Infinita Supercal (a 0.93-hectare plot on the vineyard's west side) and Gravascal (0.73 hectares on its north-east side), both 100% Malbec
• Finca: Piedra Infinita is a Malbec from plots on the vineyard's shallower soils; Las Cuchillas is 100% Chardonnay; Los Membrillos is bottled as both Semillon and Cabernet Sauvignon
• Paraje: Fósil (Chardonnay, Paraje Estancia in IG San Pablo, 1,400 m) and Botánico (Chardonnay, Gualtallary Monasterio, 1,360 to 1,385 m); Aluvional Malbecs from Los Chacayes, Paraje Altamira, Gualtallary, and San Pablo
• Viticulturist: Emma Zuccardi (100% Bonarda, the first wine Sebastián made, named for his grandmother); Tito Zuccardi (85% Malbec, 15% Cabernet Franc, co-fermented); José Zuccardi (95% Malbec, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon), which followed Zeta (first made in 2002) from the 2013 vintage
• Zuccardi Blanc de Blancs: 100% Chardonnay sparkling wine made by the Champenoise method from La Carrera at 1,550 m, aged on lees for more than three years
• Village: Polígonos Paraje Altamira Malbec is 100% Malbec from IG Paraje Altamira at 1,100 m; the line also includes Chenin Blanc from Vista Flores

After years of studies, the winery settled on concrete without any type of coating as the ideal material for its vessels, especially conical vessels that allow minimum intervention, and all its wines are fermented in concrete. The winery says concrete does not impart flavors or aromas to the wine. Concreto comes from the most stony and calcareous plots, vinified with whole bunches and fermented and stored entirely in concrete vessels without epoxy; it seeks to reveal the texture imparted by the Uco Valley's calcareous soils. José Zuccardi is fermented in concrete tanks without epoxy and aged in large oak foudres. The Amphora Project is 100% Malbec: the grapes are stomped in the amphora and fermented by infusion with whole bunches, with a 45-day maceration. At Finca Las Cerrilladas, each of the vineyard's 30 lots is vinified separately before blending. In Sebastián Zuccardi's words: “We strive for wines with identity that express, with transparency and precision, the place where they come from.”

• At its 2016 opening the winery had a capacity of 970,000 litres, using concrete vats as well as barrels and foudres
• Aluvional uses Malbec as the vehicle to express different sites of the Uco Valley
• Tito Zuccardi is made from co-fermented grapes from Paraje Altamira
• Finca Canal Uco and El Camino de las Flores, a Chardonnay from parcels of Finca Las Cerrilladas bordering dry streams, are exclusive with La Place de Bordeaux except in South America

Sebastián Zuccardi is Winemaking Director. Trained as an agronomist and part of the family's third generation, he leads the winemaking and viticulture teams, spearheaded the construction of the winery alongside his father José Alberto, and is a member of Alma 4, a traditional-method sparkling wine project he began with three friends in 1999. Laura Principiano, Head Winemaker, joined in 2009 and leads the Winemaking and Research and Development departments. Martín di Stefano, Viticulturist, started at Zuccardi Valle de Uco in 2010 and is responsible for the development of its Uco Valley vineyards. José Alberto Zuccardi is president of the Familia Zuccardi wine company. The winery practices what it calls contemplative viticulture and preserves native habitats within its vineyards. Co-founder Emma Zuccardi created the Familia Zuccardi Foundation, which her granddaughter Julia carries on.

Construction began in Paraje Altamira in 2013, and the winery opened in 2016, the culmination of seven years of research and three years of building work, with walls designed to reflect the curvature of the mountains. It was built from stones from Finca Piedra Infinita and water and sand from the nearby Tunuyán River, and is entirely concrete inside and out. Visits run Monday through Sunday, all by prior reservation, and every tasting includes a visit to the winery. The restaurant, Piedra Infinita Cocina, opened in March 2016, seats up to 50, and serves a course menu made with regional ingredients paired with Zuccardi Valle de Uco wines.

Sebastián Zuccardi's winery in the Uco Valley took first place in the inaugural World's Best Vineyards awards, an annual ranking of 50 launched in London; José Alberto collected the award.

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://zuccardiwines.com/en/, https://zuccardiwines.com/en/historia/, https://zuccardiwines.com/en/bodega/, https://zuccardiwines.com/en/fincas/, https://zuccardiwines.com/en/vinos/, https://zuccardiwines.com/en/vinos/vinos-de-finca/, https://zuccardiwines.com/en/vinos/vinos-de-parcela/, https://zuccardiwines.com/en/vinos/vinos-de-paraje/, https://zuccardiwines.com/en/vinos/vinos-de-pueblo/, https://zuccardiwines.com/en/vinos/vinos-de-viticultor/, https://zuccardiwines.com/en/vinos/vinos-de-region/, https://zuccardiwines.com/en/turismo/, https://zuccardiwines.com/en/la-place-de-bordeaux/. Secondary sources: https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/zuccardi-winery-opens-297114/, https://www.decanter.com/wine/producer-profiles/zuccardi-producer-profile-245940/, https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/worlds-best-vineyards. Last verified 2026-10-12. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.