Multiple 100 point reds from Argentina's Familia Zuccardi:
'unwavering clarity, focus and precision' (ML)
Within the vast scope of Argentine wine, perhaps no transformation is more impressive or complete than Zuccardi's.
Matthew Luczy, robertparker.com, August 2026
2022 Piedra Infinita, Finca Piedra Infinita, Zuccardi
£190 per 3 bottles in bond
2022 Supercal, Finca Piedra Infinita, Zuccardi
£395 per 3 bottles in bond
2022 Gravascal, Finca Piedra Infinita, Zuccardi
£395 per 3 bottles in bond
Following on from the success of the recently offered pair of Zuccardi Chardonnays, Botanico and Fosil, I was delighted to have the opportunity this week to taste Zuccardi’s single vineyard reds with Sebastián Zuccardi himself. What was dramatically apparent was the singularity of his vision and the passion with which he pursues his goals.
Whilst Argentina's reputation was built upon Malbec, Sebastián's ambition has never been simply to produce a greater expression of the variety. Instead, for more than two decades, he has pursued a deeper understanding of the Uco Valley itself, studying its soils, geology and microclimates in an effort to reveal the distinctions between individual sites and, ultimately, individual parcels. It is this obsession with place that has transformed Zuccardi from a successful family winery into what many now regard as one of Argentina's benchmark producers.
The estate's story began in 1963 when Alberto "Tito" Zuccardi planted vineyards to demonstrate an innovative irrigation system he had developed. Under the stewardship of José Zuccardi, the winery grew to become one of Argentina's most important producers. Yet it was Sebastián's arrival in 2002 that marked the beginning of a remarkable new chapter. Rather than focusing on winemaking technique, Sebastián, a trained viticulturist, set out to understand the Uco Valley from the ground up. Years of soil mapping, geological study and painstaking vineyard research, undertaken alongside renowned terroir specialist Pedro Parra, eventually led to the establishment of Finca Piedra Infinita in Paraje Altamira, now considered one of Argentina's finest vineyard sites.
What followed was even more ambitious. Piedra Infinita was divided into dozens of micro-parcels, each studied and vinified separately to understand how subtle variations in soil depth, stone content and calcium carbonate influence the finished wine. The goal was not to express Malbec, but to express place as transparently as possible.
Those efforts have culminated in three remarkable wines - Piedra Infinita, Piedra Infinita Supercal, and Piedra Infinita Gravascal.
While Matthew Luczy, writing for The Wine Advocate, awarded these wines an extraordinary sequence of 99 and 100-point scores, what impressed me most was not their scale or power. Despite their youth, all three displayed beautiful fruit purity, remarkably silky tannins and an effortless sense of harmony. They are serious wines, certainly, but they are also unusually composed and engaging.
2022 Piedra Infinita, Finca Piedra Infinita, Zuccardi
£190 per 3 bottles in bond
Drawn from the estate's flagship vineyard in Paraje Altamira, Piedra Infinita captures the essence of the site as a whole (47 parcels in a 35 hectare vineyard). There is an engaging fluidity to the palate in the Piedra Infinita, with beautiful fruit purity, soft but fresh acidity, melting tannins and a long, mouthwatering finish with the subtle structure nevertheless evident, reasserting itself at the very end. The winemaking - lightly crushed whole bunch fermentation in concrete vats with a moderately short maceration of less than a fortnight, is all focused on retaining the clarity of fruit.
99 points, Matthew Luczy, robertparker.com, August 2026
The sheer pedigree of the 2022 Finca Piedra Infinita manages to overcome its youthful nature, yielding a wine that approaches the mesmerizing complexity of the duo of single-parcel bottlings from the same site. It slowly reveals itself with a coiled, contained nose of increasingly intense floral aromas and a red- and black-fruited core, followed by a taut, sculpted mouthfeel that oozes measured richness yet never veers from the finesse and restraint that have perennially defined Zuccardi's bottlings from this vineyard. Telegraphing its profound, detailed nature despite being somewhat introverted, the wine lingers with an incredibly long, morphing finish of powdery tannins, taut minerality and a vibrant spine of acidity while avoiding overt austerity. A beautiful follow-up to the amazing 2021 vintage, this iteration foregrounds the bones of the site rather than the comparatively fleshy nature of its predecessor, and it will demand additional time in the cellar before what should be the better part of two decades of drinking pleasure. Drink: 2029-2039
2022 Supercal, Finca Piedra Infinita, Zuccardi
£395 per 3 bottles in bond
Produced from a tiny 0.93-hectare parcel where calcium carbonate lies close to the surface, Supercal is perhaps the most refined and understated of the trio. Luczy calls it one of the most compelling wines in Argentina, highlighting its "transfixing purity" and extraordinary transparency. For me Supercal is clearly a limestone soil wine, with a tensile palate carrying an intense fruit core that is less concerned with making an impression than with communicating its origins, which it does with its taut, long mineral energy.
100 points | Matthew Luczy, robertparker.com, August 2026
The somewhat bracing nature of the 2022 vintage, combined with the inherently slender profile of this parcel, could, on paper, result in a wine in which the structure overrides its textural depth, but I found that emphatically not to be the case with the 2022 Finca Piedra Infinita Supercal. Sharing the top slot in an undeniably impressive portfolio, this spectacular bottling is rendered with an additional level of transfixing purity coupled with a somewhat ineffable sense of stoicism and understatement that makes it simply one of the most compelling wines in Argentina. Relative to its counterparts from the same site, there is an elevated level of fine-boned, sculpted texture here, foregrounding the site's pure, unadulterated structure while still providing the perfect amount of stuffing to carry such a profile without veering into angularity. This is the very definition of a wine in which the variety and winemaking simply vanish, leaving only a profound sense of its origins rendered with nearly unparalleled transparency. In contrast to the incendiary nature of the Gravascal bottling, I find the gossamer, restrained profile here all the more alluring. Drink: 2030-2042
2022 Gravascal, Finca Piedra Infinita, Zuccardi
£395 per 3 bottles in bond
From a yet smaller, 0.73 hectare, parcel, with more gravel and granite and deeper soils, there is a slightly riper fruit quality. Where Supercal is fine-boned and restrained, Gravascal is deeper, broader and more expansive in profile, whilst retaining the freshness and poise that define Paraje Altamira. The fruit expression is incredibly pure, with bright, fresh, ripe blueberry fruit. The limestone-influenced linearity of Supercal is replaced here by a broader palate with more power on the finish, nevertheless retaining the silky, seamless harmony that characterises all the wines of the range.
100 points, Matthew Luczy, robertparker.com, August 2026
Sitting at the apex of the Zuccardi range alongside its counterpart from the Supercal parcel, the 2022 Finca Piedra Infinita Gravascal offers a more dramatic and engaging rendition of the portfolio's core vineyard. Whereas the Supercal is an ethereal, fine-boned expression of the site, the Gravascal takes the exact opposite tack, with a darkly floral, enveloping, mouth-filling profile that retains the weightlessness that defines Paraje Altamira while delivering sophistication and gravitas second to none. As I find it consistent with the most memorable and complex wines, it exhibits a paradoxical nature from front to back, equal parts simple and sophisticated, complex yet straight to the point. Despite the grandiosity of the palate and the relentlessness of the finish, the wine exhibits a sense of control and containment that feels naturally attained rather than the product of winemaking. As with the entire range of 2022s from Zuccardi, this is certainly best left in bottle until closer to its 10th birthday, and I imagine I will see a full two decades of evolution. Drink: 2030-2042
What I find most compelling about these wines is that they represent far more than three highly rated examples of Malbec. They are the result of a decades-long effort to understand a landscape and articulate its nuances with ever greater precision.
Collectors familiar with the great vineyard-focused traditions of Burgundy or Barolo will immediately recognise the spirit of the project. The grape variety and the winemaking are intentionally pushed into the background, leaving the vineyard itself to take centre stage. Few producers anywhere in the world have pursued that objective with greater conviction than Sebastián Zuccardi, and these wines stand as some of the most compelling evidence of what the Uco Valley is capable of achieving.
As you can imagine with wines coming from such tiny parcels, production is extremely limited. But as is also so often the case with wines form such tiny parcels, the uniqueness of expression is utterly remarkable.
Please let us know of your interest.
Richard
richard.omahony@atlasfinewines.com