Zuccardi: Understanding the Uco Valley, One Site at a Time

Hernán del Río expaning Zuccardi's vineyard parcels

A visit to Zuccardi Valle de Uco is a useful reminder that the Uco Valley is not a single terroir. The region encompasses different elevations, soil types, climates, and vineyard locations, and Zuccardi has spent years trying to understand how those differences influence the wines.
An Engine of Innovation: From Water to Wine
There is a historical irony in how Zuccardi became a wine producer. In 1950, engineer Alberto "Tito" Zuccardi arrived in Mendoza to design and install agricultural irrigation systems in the high-altitude desert. To prove the effectiveness of his irrigation technology to skeptical local farmers, Tito planted a demonstration vineyard in Maipú in 1963. What began as an engineering trial laid the foundation for three generations of viticultural exploration.
Today, that engineering DNA continues to shape the family's approach in the Uco Valley. Drip irrigation is no longer used simply to deliver water to vines; it has been transformed into a tool for micro-terroir precision. Because alluvial gravels, clay, and calcareous stones hold water at vastly different rates, Zuccardi maps soil pits extensively to divide single vineyards into precise irrigation blocks—ensuring each parcel receives tailored hydration without masking site identity.
Our visit began with Hernán del Río from the winery's I+D—Investigación y Desarrollo, or Research & Development—team. Rather than going straight to the tasting, Hernán took us through the soil pits, explaining the different layers, stones, and calcareous material found beneath the vineyards.
The tasting that followed made those observations considerably more relevant. We tasted wines from San Pablo, Gualtallary, and Paraje Altamira, including Chardonnay, Semillón, Malbec, and Cabernet Sauvignon. We also tasted Gravascal and Supercal, two wines that take the investigation down to an individual parcel level. It provided a good introduction to what makes the Zuccardi Valle de Uco project distinctive: a sustained effort to understand the differences within the Uco Valley rather than treating it as one homogeneous wine region.

Ajit Balgi at the tasting room with Andes Mountains in the background

From Malbec to Terroir
Argentina's international wine identity is closely associated with Mendoza and Malbec. At Zuccardi Valle de Uco, however, the emphasis has progressively shifted from variety to site. The winery's vineyards extend across Paraje Altamira, Gualtallary, and San Pablo, at elevations ranging from approximately 1,060 to 1,400 metres. The sites differ in climate, exposure, and, particularly, soil composition. Zuccardi works with alluvial soils containing varying proportions of sand, gravel, granite, and calcareous material. This has led the winery to develop wines at several levels of geographical precision—from regional and paraje wines to individual Finca wines and, eventually, wines from specific parcels. The approach is particularly evident when comparing wines made from the same variety but different locations.
San Pablo and Gualtallary
The 2021 Aluvional Malbecs from San Pablo and Gualtallary were among the most useful wines in the tasting for understanding this approach. Both are Malbecs from the Uco Valley, but the sites produce noticeably different expressions. San Pablo, at higher elevations and closer to the Andes, has a cooler climate and distinctive calcareous and alluvial soils. Gualtallary, also a high-altitude area, has its own combination of gravel, sand, caliche, and calcareous material—a heterogeneity that is also expressed in wines like Finca Las Cerrilladas. This is an important aspect of Zuccardi's philosophy. Rather than asking only how Malbec performs in the Uco Valley, the winery is interested in understanding how Malbec responds to individual environments within the valley.
Chardonnay Shows the Same Differences
The comparison becomes particularly interesting with Chardonnay. We tasted Fósil, from San Pablo, and Botánico, from Gualtallary. Both are high-altitude Chardonnays, but they come from distinctly different environments. Fósil comes from Estancia, in the San Pablo IG, at around 1,400 metres. The vineyard is close to the Andes and has a cold climate and calcareous soils. Botánico comes from Gualtallary at approximately 1,360–1,385 metres and is associated with calcareous soils and the native vegetation of the area. The wines demonstrate why Zuccardi's research extends beyond Malbec. The same question is being asked of different varieties: how much of the character in the glass can be attributed to the site? We also tasted Finca Las Cuchillas Chardonnay 2023, another wine from San Pablo. At around 1,400 metres, Las Cuchillas is a particularly cold site, with severe frosts and alluvial soils containing granite stones covered with calcareous material. Zuccardi describes the wine in terms of freshness, precision, and austerity rather than richness.

Ms Guadalupe with the Supercal and Gravascal wines

Los Membrillos: A Different Side of Altamira
Los Membrillos Semillón 2021 brought a different dimension to the tasting. The vineyard is in Paraje Altamira at around 1,060 metres and is an older planting. It retains several traditional features, including furrow irrigation and algarrobo posts, and the vineyard is surrounded by quince trees—the origin of its name. Semillón also has an important historical connection with Mendoza. It was once much more widely planted and is now experiencing renewed interest among producers looking for varieties that can express the region's cooler, higher-altitude sites. We also tasted Los Membrillos Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, which reinforced the fact that Zuccardi's work in the Uco Valley is not limited to Malbec. The variety may have become Argentina's international calling card, but the winery's broader interest is in understanding the interaction between variety and site.
Piedra Infinita
Piedra Infinita Malbec 2021 takes us back to Paraje Altamira and one of Zuccardi's most important vineyards. Piedra Infinita is located at around 1,100 metres on the alluvial plain of the Tunuyán River. The soils contain large stones and gravel covered with calcareous material, with considerable variation within the vineyard itself. The winery's work at Piedra Infinita illustrates the progression in its thinking. Initially, the focus was on understanding the vineyard as a whole. Over time, increasingly detailed soil studies led to the identification of individual parcels with distinct characteristics. That brings us to Gravascal and Supercal.
From Vineyard to Parcel
Gravascal and Supercal represent a much more detailed level of terroir selection. Both come from very small parcels within Piedra Infinita, but the soil characteristics are different. Gravascal is associated with large gravel and granite stones covered by calcareous material, while Supercal comes from an area with particularly high concentrations of calcareous material covering the surface stones. The wines are therefore not simply “premium Malbecs from Altamira.” They are attempts to demonstrate what happens when the winery isolates particular soil characteristics within an already defined vineyard. This is where the role of the I+D team becomes especially relevant.
The Role of I+D
Zuccardi's Research & Development programme is central to its work in the Uco Valley. The team investigates soils, vineyard sites, varieties, irrigation, and other factors that influence the character of the wines. Hernán del Río was able to put that work into context during our visit, taking us through the soil pits before leading the tasting. Seeing the soil profiles and then tasting wines from different locations made the relationship between the vineyard work and the finished wines much easier to understand.

Laura Principiano showcasing the Finca Los Cuchillas from San Pablo

Laura Principiano and the Winemaking Approach
Laura Principiano has been an important part of Zuccardi's development in the Uco Valley. An agronomist by training, she joined Sebastián Zuccardi's team in 2009 and subsequently became a leading figure in the winery's enology and research work. Her approach is closely aligned with the broader philosophy of the project: understand the vineyard first and then use winemaking to preserve its characteristics rather than imposing a predetermined style. Laura met us for the Supercal tasting, which was an appropriate wine through which to discuss the philosophy. Supercal represents one of the most detailed levels of Zuccardi's vineyard work, moving from region to area, from area to vineyard, and from vineyard to a very specific soil profile.
What the Wines Show
The tasting demonstrated that Zuccardi's work is not dependent on one variety or one style:

• The Aluvional Malbecs showed differences between San Pablo and Gualtallary.
• Fósil, Botánico, and Las Cuchillas demonstrated how Chardonnay responds to different high-altitude environments.
• Los Membrillos Semillón brought vineyard age and Mendoza's white-wine heritage into the discussion, while the Cabernet Sauvignon showed that the project extends beyond Malbec.
• Piedra Infinita represented a broader expression of its Altamira vineyard, while Las Cerrilladas showed how the winery approaches a heterogeneous vineyard in Gualtallary.
• Gravascal and Supercal demonstrated how far the winery has taken the idea of site specificity.

The wines are best understood as different stages of the same investigation.
A Different Way of Looking at the Uco Valley
Zuccardi's contribution to the Uco Valley is not simply the production of highly rated wines. It is the amount of attention the winery has devoted to understanding the region's internal diversity. The work involves viticulture, soil studies, research, experimentation, and winemaking. It also requires a willingness to accept that different vineyards—and even different parcels within the same vineyard—can produce wines with distinct identities. After walking through the soil pits with Hernán del Río and tasting the wines that followed, that philosophy becomes considerably easier to understand. The Uco Valley is often described in terms of altitude. At Zuccardi, the conversation goes considerably further. It is about which altitude, which village, which vineyard, which soil, and, increasingly, which parcel.

Sommeier at the Piedra Infinita Cocina with the Poligonos range