2019 Un Lugar en Los Andes Pinot Noir
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Tasting notes
This is truly delicious. This is tight and youthful at first, a little reductive on opening, but gradually reveals pure and juicy dark fruit with floral perfume and savoury spice. There’s brooding black cherry on the palate but layered with the crunch of bright redcurrant fruit, framed by chalky tannins and a pepper-spiced finish. Revisiting the same bottle two and three days later shows the wine’s potential – with the wine opening up even more, exposing a new level of vibrancy, purity and suppleness. Long and impressive, this is a really special example of what can be achieved at altitude in Argentina.
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Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
Joaquin Hidalgo, Vinous
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There are two wines from a joint venture between Sebastián Zuccardi and his friend Walter Scibilia, a gaucho that has a large property in San Pablo, Estancia San, where he has some vines planted at 1,700 meters in altitude. The 2019 Un Lugar en Los Andes Pinot Noir fermented with 50% full clusters and indigenous yeasts in 500-liter oak barrels where it matured. It has floral aromas with the intensity I usually find in high-altitude places, where the influence from the sun is very strong and the grapes develop a lot of aromas and flavors. It has 13% alcohol and a mellow palate with fine tannins and very good freshness and balance. Only 550 bottles were filled in June 2020.
The 2019 Pinot Noir Un Lugar en los Andes is exotic, with mountain herbs, balsamic notes and a hint of dried flowers. What stands out is the point of ripeness, which gives the fruit a darker profile. The bouquet is nuanced and the palate is silky, with gentle grip from the stems. Compact and taut, it offers a long finish marked by high-altitude aromas. The 2019 is very compelling.
About the producer
Based in the Uco Valley, Zuccardi is one of Argentina’s leading producers. Family owned and run – today by third-generation Sebastián Zuccardi – the property crafts pure-fruited wines that speak of their mountainous Mendoza terroir.