Ready to Ship: Dual 95-Point Malbec
- 95 pts Wine Advocate95 pts RPWA
- 95 pts James Suckling95 pts JS
- Curated by unrivaled experts
- Choose your delivery date
- Temperature controlled shipping options
- Get credited back if a wine fails to impress
2018 Zuccardi Malbec Concreto Paraje Altamira Mendoza Argentina 750 ml
- Curated by unrivaled experts
- Choose your delivery date
- Temperature controlled shipping options
- Get credited back if a wine fails to impress
95-Point Malbec from Mendoza’s Terroir Genius
Mendoza’s “It” kid Sebastián Zuccardi has a terroir fetish. His mythical ability to transform the essence of the Andes into sleek texture with a profusion of black and blue fruits earned his 2018 Concreto Malbec Paraje Altamira 95 points from James Suckling and Wine Advocate. This genius is so obsessed with the region that he constructed the winery from the stones of his vineyards—a feat that earned the winery “World’s Best Vineyard” from CNN in 2019.
The praise from critics and journalists seems to double every year. Thanks to the fortuitous timing of our visit in 2018, Wine Access members can score this sensational 95-point Malbec for a song.
Zuccardi’s mad-scientist-level passion for Mendoza terroir has pushed him to stardom over the past decade, most recently granting him a spot on Decanter‘s list of South America’s Top 10 winemakers. After years of jostling for a visit with one of the most sought-after names on the continent, we were thrilled to score a meeting—and were struck by his fervor. Sebastián has made it his life’s mission to capture the essence of this stunningly unique and rocky terroir in his wines.
His grapes hail from a dramatic wine country backdrop. The stony, 3,500-ft high vineyards sit at the foot of the gargantuan snow-capped peaks of the Andes. It’s a scene that you just don’t find anywhere else in the world.
This Malbec is beautifully structured, with the dense tannins and phenomenal texture that have come to define Zuccardi wines. It oozes with thick aromas of black plum, black raspberry, cassis, and lilacs—and all without any addition of oak. The rebel winemaker claims vinifying and aging in cement (concreto) empowers the wine to best convey the region’s mineral-rich terroir. In fact, he’s been singled out as a leader in a group of new-generation winemakers in South America known as the “cement heads”—a quirky title that Zuccardi embraces.
Instead of explaining what he credits for the special texture of his wines, Sebastián encouraged us to “try a stone.” We did, and the perceptible chalky flavor of the rocks is indeed reflected in the polished minerality of his finished Concreto. “Why would I want to cover all that magic with oak?” he asked. Glass in hand, looking out at what would later be awarded ‘World’s Best Vineyard,’ we couldn’t think of a single reason.
Sebastián Zuccardi is changing what was once thought possible in Mendoza, not least with his 2018 Concreto. Wine Advocate has already called Zuccardi out as “clearly among the top wineries of the country.” We still can’t believe we were lucky enough to have found it before the name hit the big time, but that luck runs out as soon as this knockout Malbec does.