2020 Zolo Malbec Estate Grown Lujan de Cuyo 750 ml

Going back centuries, collaborations between French winemakers and their Argentinian counterparts have yielded some of the most stunning vinicultural legacies of the Southern Hemisphere. Think of Emile Peynaud and Don Raúl de la Mota, or Michel Rolland and Arnaldo Etchart.

To that list of legendary partnerships, we’ll add another: Zolo founder Patricia Ortiz—named by Wine Enthusiast as one of five “Argentine Winemakers with Rock Star Appeal” in 2021—and Pétrus alum Jean-Claude Berrouet.  

Their 2020 Zolo Malbec is a stunning value backed by Berrouet’s First Growth talent, estate-grown Malbec from the esteemed terroir of Lujan de Cuyo, and 92-point praise from James Suckling. “So much fruit and fine tannins,” he raved, calling the release “really delicious.”

Epitomizing the power and intensity of 2020, a vintage that Suckling declared “the best ever for wines from Argentina,” rarely has a bottling with such flair and classicism been accompanied by such a diminutive price tag.  

Working alongside winemaker Fabian Valenzuela, Berrouet brings Ortiz’s vision of affordable, traditional winemaking alive with outstanding Zolo wines like this one. According to Wine Enthusiast, Ortiz is one of the leaders responsible for helping “establish the 21st century as [Argentina’s] Golden Era for wine.”

The 2020 Malbec wine ages six months in a combination of French and American oak barrels. Michel Rolland (another Pomerol native) famously instituted a philosophy of una semana más in Argentine winemaking, meaning “another week.” His goal was to encourage later harvesting of grapes, leading to richer wines.

This release captures that concentration, but with organically farmed grapes grown at 3,050 feet, this bottling matches power with high-elevation tension. It's everything we want in a weeknight red.