Winemaker Notes
Aromas of spiced apple and butterscotch. A high-energy palate comes straight from the terroir. Lightly buttery baked apple and peach flavors are pure and steady on a firm, balanced finish.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2023 Chardonnay Fósil is a statement of intent—a vineyard planted in San Pablo with the aim of producing great wine. Ever since its first release, the 2016 vintage, Fósil has quickly established itself as a high-altitude white with a refreshing, non-ripe profile. Even in a warm vintage like 2023, the Chardonnay Fósil offers herbal and reductive notes, with hints of huacatay (a native Andean herb) alongside lime and lemon, all set against a soft backdrop of linden blossom. Lean and vibrant, the palate is pure and chalky in texture, flowing with a light, compact feel. The 2023 vintage solidifies its terroir-driven character.
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Decanter
Fermented and aged in concrete and without undergoing malolactic fermentation, this is a vibrant and precise expression of Chardonnay with a robust acid backbone and a intense, fleshy minerality that reflects the intense of the grapes it is produced from, planted at 1,400 metres altitude on carbonate-rich soils. Yellow orchard fruit, wild flowers and fleshy citrus mingle with wild fennel and wet stone on the palate, for a structured mouthfeel that never loses tension and focus. Long finish, with great vertical depth.
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James Suckling
A tight, minerally and crunchy wine with a lemon and cut-apple character. Medium-bodied, very vertical and energetic. From the coldest appellation in Mendoza, and it shows in the tension and energy. Zingy. No malolactic. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Fósil hails from two vineyards in San Pablo and was vinified entirely in concrete without malolactic fermentation. Opening with a pure, citrus-driven nose padded with an elegantly creamy richness, the palate balances a broad, textural breadth with a gently electric spine of acidity that carries through the herbal, lifted finish. While I found this a touch softer than the comparatively racy Botánico bottling, it remains a lovely expression of Uco Valley.
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Wine Spectator
This electric white begins with salty preserved lemon and pineapple sage notes that fold into apple and white peach flavors, with a fennel seed detail that weaves in on the finish around chalky minerality and a subtle creamy accent. Drink now through 2030.
A few years before 1950, Ing. Alberto Zuccardi reaches Mendoza from his homeland in Tucuman where their great-grandparents had settled upon arriving in the Italian region of AveIino. In 1963, Alberto implanted a vineyard in the region of Maipu not knowing that it would begin the great passion of his life, the wine industry. In 1990, his son, Jose Alberto Zuccardi, assumed the General Director of the company.
In 2005, Sebastian Zuccardi, third generation of the family, lead the development of the new stage of the wines of the winery expansion into the Uco Valley. On his initiative, since 2008 the winery has an area of Research and Development dedicated to the study of the terroir and the different variables that affect wine production. In 2013 the construction of the new Zuccardi winery in the Uco Valley began. It opened in March 2016 with the premise of producing wines with identity, through the continuous exploration of the different terroirs of the Uco Valley.
The Zuccardi family’s approach to sustainability starts with the environment and people before any product. They’re dedicated to producing the highest quality wines through sustainable practices such as a focus on nurturing biodiversity, organic farming, efficient irrigation practices, composting, water treatment, comprehensive waste and recycling efforts, and the use of solar energy. The winery itself is designed to be naturally energy efficient by maximizing natural light and minimizing electricity consumption. Its concrete walls fulfill the function of a thermal insulator, the movements of liquid are caused by gravity and the concrete-designed vessels allow for a natural control of the temperature of the wine. As a third generation family-owned winery, the Zuccardi’s take seriously their responsibility to protect the environment, support the land, the farmers and uplift the local community. Through building schools, offering free education, fostering equality, banning child labor, and subsidizing health care, they’re not only elevating their wines and the Uco Valley as a world class wine region, but also giving the people who have contributed to their success a path forward and upward mobility for their own families.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
With a winning combination of cool weather, high elevation and well-draining alluvial soils, it is no surprise that Mendoza’s Uco Valley is one of the most exciting up-and-coming wine regions in Argentina. Healthy, easy-to-manage vines produce low yields of high-quality fruit, which in turn create flavorful, full-bodied wines with generous acidity.
This is the source of some of the best Malbec in Mendoza, which can range from value-priced to ultra-premium. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay also perform well here.