Zuccardi Uco Valley Finca Canal Uco 2020

James Suckling
99/100 punten 
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.

Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
96/100 punten
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 cuvée. 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 à 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.

Colin Hay (The Drinks Business)
96/100 punten
(Mendoza; 100% Malbec; whole bunch fermentation and now with no oak either, with aging entirely in concrete vats; 14% alcohol). Lithe, pure, fresh and very vertical in its aromatic presentation, this feels every inch a wine from a high altitude limestone terroir, as indeed it is. I love both the florality and the visceral intensity of the crushed raspberry and loganberry fruit, which is what this wine is all about. Lifted aromatically and tight on the palate with lots of purity and precision. Very fine. An eloquent expression of its terroir. 

Vinous
95/100 punten
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.

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW (The Wine Independent)
94/100 punten
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.

Wine Spectator
94/100 punten
A wet stone note paves the way, with concentrated violet and blueberry notes that swell around vibrant minerally acidity, adding layers of spiced plum and fresh herbs, lingering around smooth tannins and cocoa bean details on the finish.

Jane Anson (Inside Bordeaux)
94/100 punten
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.