Tasting Notes
Robert Parker 96
The 2020 Finca Canal Uco comes from the historical part of Altamira, only across the street from their Piedra Infinita vineyard, where the soils are slightly deeper and with a little less limestone; the grapes achieve more ripeness and deliver slightly more generous wines from soils that could be the equivalent to the Gravascal from Piedra Infinita. The vines were planted ungrafted 14 years ago. In 2020, they selected grapes from four or five separate plots in the vineyard to create this cuvee. Furthermore, 2020 was a very warm and dry year with high ripeness, but after their experience with the very warm 2017, they were ready to tackle such vintages (it was similar in 2023 too); they harvested some 15 days earlier than normal and did a shorter maceration, around 12 or 13 days. They always destem the grapes but put 100% of the stems back in the vat to avoid any risk of carbonic maceration. The wine is perfumed and clean, with some floral notes; it’s juicy, as Malbec is always juicy, but there’s no trace of sweetness. It has contained ripeness, 14% alcohol and a medium-bodied palate. It does not quite reach the finesse of the 2019, but it’s fine-boned and harmonious, with the limestone tannins and great purity of an unoaked red a la Zuccardi vinified and aged exclusively in raw concrete. They produced 12,500 bottles that were filled in June 2021; they dedicated 7,000 of those bottles for global distribution and kept the rest for the markets in South America. Stunning stony Malbec with no fruit.
The Wine Independent 94
The single-varietal 2020 Finca Canal Uco Malbec is deep garnet-purple in color. Bold notes of black cherries, juicy black plums, and wild blueberries spring from the glass, followed by hints of lilacs, dark chocolate, and licorice. The medium-bodied palate offers a refreshing backbone and soft tannins to offset the bright, crunchy fruit, finishing with a lively lift.
Vinous 95
The 2020 Malbec Finca Canal Uco hails from Paraje Altamira in the Uco Valley. Purple in the glass. The floral nose offers notes of violets, ripe plum, blueberry, herbs and sage. Dry, juicy, and taut on the palate, the finely-grained, chalky tannins and lively, measured acidity produce a rich but compact mouthfeel. This is a long-lasting, juicy, nuanced red.
Jane Anson 94
Smoky reduction on the opening, then things slowly and confidently unroll in the glass. A concentrated if understated Malbec, with juicy dark fruits, bitter black chocolate, anis, fennel, wet stone, pomegranate, all underpinned by tension and juice, with limestone fingerprint imparting both taste and texture in the form of salinity and chalk. Concrete vats for fermentation and 500-litre oak vats, natural yeasts, vineyard set at 1,100m in altitude on granite and limestone soils. Second year on the Place for this wine from the Altamira area of the Uco Valley. This was the first vineyard that Sebastian planted for Zuccardi, in Altamira where they have three estates today. All fermented and aged in concrete. An exciting Argentinian wine where you feel the impact of really caring about the terroir, taking traditional winemaking approaches coupled with meticulous and precise care in both vineyard and cellar.
Decanter 96
An alluring nose full of blackcurrants and softly fragrant plums with berry notes, damsons, milk chocolate and floral violets and crushed rose petals. Soft, smooth, succulent and sumptuous, this 100% Malbec comes from the distinctive high-altitude Finca Canal Uco, 1,100m high with alluvial and calcareous soils in Paraja Altamira. It immediately expands in the mouth giving a combination of textured tannins, bright fruits and minerality in the chalk, graphite, liquorice, slate and wet stones aspects. This feels so precise and well put together with plentiful and pure fruit, salinity, chalkiness and juiciness. Gorgeous frame, stylish, confident and compelling. A round mouthfeel with persistence and crushed velvet in texture. Seductive and moreish, a bright and true expression which craves food and a long time to contemplate how wonderful it is. Utterly drinkable form the supremely talented and devout winemaker Sebastian Zuccardi. 3.56pH. 100% whole bunch fermentation, 15 day maceration and ageing in concrete vats before being bottled after the next harvest. 3.56pH. 100% whole bunch fermentation, 15-day maceration and ageing in concrete.
James Suckling 99
Pristine and fresh but also complex and deep. Tile, wild herbs and lots of blueberries and flowers on the nose. The ultra-fine, immaculate tannins are fully dissolved on the full-bodied palate. A great malbec that is so smooth on the palate. Super polished but intellectual. A baby now. Drink from 2026.