Experience – Familia Zuccardi – Valle de Uco, Mendoza, Argentina.
- Address: Costa Canal Uco s/n – Paraje Altamira, San Carlos, Mendoza (Google Maps)
- Hours: Wednesday – Monday 9:00 am – 6:00 pm, Closed Tuesday
- How to Arrive: By car
- Distance from Mendoza: 113 km / 70.21 miles
- Familia Zuccardi Website
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone Number: +54 261 441-0000
- Ideal Month(s): October – May
The Zuccardi family has been living in Mendoza since the late 19th century. During the 1950’s, current Director Jose Alberto Zuccardi’s father, Don Alberto, started his own irrigation company, which specialized in irrigation techniques for the grape and soft fruit industries in the region of Mendoza. In 1963, as a way of demonstrating the effectiveness of his pre-fabricated concrete and of his irrigation systems, Don Alberto purchased the land of what is now the family’s Maipu vineyard, forty minutes from the center of Mendoza city. Here Don developed an irrigation system using concrete pipes and then created a 16 hectare vineyard to demonstrate the system to growers. This vineyard at Maipu now amounts to 170 hectares of vines.
Don Alberto was so convinced by the potential of using his irrigation expertise in arid areas, that in 1973 he purchased a second vineyard site in the desert area of Santa Rosa, an hour and a half to the east of Mendoza city. The farm extends to 1400 hectares of dry scrub-land, of which 410 hectares are now under vine.
Since 1985 the company has been managed in its entirely by Don Alberto’s son, José Alberto. The Zuccardi’s company is now the largest family-owned winery in Argentina and ensures its quality in all markets by selling wines made only from the family’s own grapes. The company is run as a family by a family and is committed to using as much manpower and as little machinery in the vineyards as possible.
Zuccardi is one of the most experimental wineries and produces a wide variety of wines including Aglianico, Ekigaina, Albarino and Bourboulenc. They also produce a sparkling red wine, which is a local favorite for special cocktail parties. With two restaurants, an olive oil factory, and an art gallery, there is plenty for visitors to see and do during while visiting Familia Zuccardi.
