Zuccardi, Malbec “Polígonos: Paraje Altamira”
Mendoza, Argentina 2016 (750mL)
Regular price$32.00
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Zuccardi, Malbec “Polígonos: Paraje Altamira”
At about 1,100 meters’ altitude, the vineyard sources for today’s wine would rank among the highest-elevation sites in Europe. In Mendoza, Argentina, however, this is effectively the baseline, with many vineyards climbing much higher. Of course, having vineyards at such great heights doesn’t exempt Mendoza from producing dense, oversaturated reds; in fact, one could argue that dense and oversaturated has been the default style for Mendoza Malbec.
Today’s wine from Zuccardi is a welcome departure from that style. Young proprietor Sebastián Zuccardi, a third-generation viticultor in Mendoza’s Valle de Uco, created his “Polígonos” line to showcase the unique characteristics of single vineyard sites—a Burgundian approach in a region that has become a second home for some of Bordeaux’s biggest names. Aged only in concrete tanks, the varietal purity and soil character in Zuccardi’s 2016 “Paraje Altamira” is downright paradigm-shifting. There’s no shortage of the dark fruit, purple florals, and iron-shaving tannins that distinguish Malbec—that’s all there, just without the layer of oak-derived toast and chocolate to mask it. Maybe that’s why Zuccardi put it in a Burgundy bottle—to mark it as a “vineyard-first” style of wine. What we appreciated most about it was how easily we could visualize where it came from: It has the tension you’d expect from a wine grown at 3,600 feet, in deep, gravelly soils irrigated with snowmelt from the Andes. If this is the new face of Argentine Malbec, count us in: It’s an extremely elegant Malbec that elevates the game on every level!
Hopefully, the details above will help you unpack the wine’s rather crowded label, but just in case: Zuccardi is the producer. Valle de Uco is the appellation. Polígonos (translating to “estates”) is the ‘fantasy,’ or ‘brand’ name. Paraje Altamira is a vineyard, or cru, designation. This is a bright and exceptionally pure expression of Malbec—the absence of any influence from expensive French oak barrels leaves us with fruit, flowers, and earth only, and that’s plenty. In the glass, it’s a classic Malbec purple-ruby at its core, not quite opaque but close, with magenta and pink highlights at the rim. Decant it about 15-30 minutes before service in Bordeaux stems and a heady rush of blackberry, plum, and cassis is checked by hints of damp violet, wild herbs, grill char, and a hint of black pepper. It is medium-bodied, with an appealing jolt of freshness and relatively fine-grained tannins—in all, a Malbec with beautiful aromatics and surprising finesse. This is not your typical juicy, oaky quaffer: It has real nerve, will age nicely over the next 5+ years, and will complement—rather than overwhelm—food. Grilled steak is the somewhat obvious move here, but hey, when it ain’t broke…enjoy!
Today’s wine from Zuccardi is a welcome departure from that style. Young proprietor Sebastián Zuccardi, a third-generation viticultor in Mendoza’s Valle de Uco, created his “Polígonos” line to showcase the unique characteristics of single vineyard sites—a Burgundian approach in a region that has become a second home for some of Bordeaux’s biggest names. Aged only in concrete tanks, the varietal purity and soil character in Zuccardi’s 2016 “Paraje Altamira” is downright paradigm-shifting. There’s no shortage of the dark fruit, purple florals, and iron-shaving tannins that distinguish Malbec—that’s all there, just without the layer of oak-derived toast and chocolate to mask it. Maybe that’s why Zuccardi put it in a Burgundy bottle—to mark it as a “vineyard-first” style of wine. What we appreciated most about it was how easily we could visualize where it came from: It has the tension you’d expect from a wine grown at 3,600 feet, in deep, gravelly soils irrigated with snowmelt from the Andes. If this is the new face of Argentine Malbec, count us in: It’s an extremely elegant Malbec that elevates the game on every level!
The Zuccardi family is deeply rooted in the Valle de Uco, which is arguably the most highly regarded subzone of Mendoza. Following the path of the Tunuyán River, the Uco Valley’s vineyards reach to higher altitudes than the ones further north near the city of Mendoza (Luján de Cuyo, Maipú), but, as elsewhere, the soils are predominantly alluvial—owing to the vast network of rivers and streams flowing down from their sources in the Andes. A network of ancient canals, along with more modern irrigation systems, distribute much-needed water to vineyards in what is effectively a “high desert” environment—dry throughout the growing season and known for dramatic diurnal temperature fluctuations.
Sebastián Zuccardi’s grandfather, Alberto, planted his first vineyards in Maipú in 1963, and since then the family has expanded its holdings considerably: they make a large and diverse range of wines, and plenty of premium raw material for Sebastien to indulge his single-vineyard yearnings. “Paraje Altamira” (paraje means “place,” by the way) is named for a town (and viticultural subzone) at the southern end of the Uco Valley, and is one of six Malbecs in the Polígonos range designed to show the diversity of terroir expressions in the zone. It is sourced from two vineyards north of Altamira: “Finca Canal Uco” is characterized by a deeper, richer clay/sand topsoil over a gravel base, while “Piedra Infinita,” as its name implies, is almost pure gravel. No wonder there are so many Bordeaux wine families here: it’s an extreme (and much less expensive) version of their home turf.
