Zuccardi 'Apelación' Malbec, Vista Flores, Mendoza 2022

His son José then joined the business and began opening up export markets to sell the wine they were now bottling. José’s son Sebastián joined in 2000, and took the lead in taking quality to the next level. They started buying in grapes from the Uco Valley which were grown at higher altitude, where cool nights give the grapes good freshness and acidity. A couple of years later they started buying vineyards there, working closely with the individual terroirs. They now own 340 ha in Uco Valley at altitudes of around 1000m. In 2016 they completed construction of a new state-of-the- art, eco-friendly winery. Interestingly Sebastián favours rounded concrete tanks which he finds gives wines with better acidity and more character compared with stainless steel. He aims to make wines that are all about their origin and specific to each individual site, to this end using an advanced soil mapping system. They also have an experimental vineyard where they grow 35 different varieties, research and development being seen as vitally important. In all the family, with their Santa Julia winery too, have over 1000 ha of vines and export over half their production.