2023 Zuccardi Concreto Malbec Paraje Altamira Mendoza 750 ml

Sebastián Zuccardi is one of the shooting stars of Argentine wine. His vision for the future of his country’s wine industry is crystal-clear and ambitious—and nothing embodies this better than his Concreto Malbec.

In fact, the 2023 might just be the best he’s ever produced. It’s an absolute triumph, boasting a gobsmacking 96 points from Jeb Dunnuck. Sourced from some of Argentina’s most dynamic terroirs and raised solely in concrete tanks, it embodies Zuccardi’s energy and acumen as well as any he makes—and it shows VERY proudly in the larger context. 

To wit: Dunnuck gave 98 points to his #1 Malbec of the vintage, a $120 collectible from the iconic Catena winery. This bottle came in a close second, at roughly 1/3 of the price. It also earned the #36 spot on Dunnuck’s Top 100 of the year. 

What sets Concreto apart is Zuccardi’s approach: He takes fruit grown in some of his stoniest soils then ferments and ages it entirely in concrete. It’s a pure look at the heights the grape can attain in the country’s top vineyards—and a bold declaration that the best terroirs in Argentina can achieve greatness with next to no embellishment.

The 2023 Concreto is captivating and delicious at once. The nose is rich with black plum, black raspberry, cassis, lilac, cocoa powder, salvia, and petrichor. And it buzzes with an energy and minerality that Zuccardi claims is only possible through aging in concrete.

This is a winemaker with an incredibly contagious passion for terroir. He’s so obsessed with Mendoza that he constructed his winery from stones he found in his vineyards—a feat that earned a “World’s Best Vineyard” honor from CNN in 2019. His mad-scientist-level passion also won him a spot on Decanter’s list of South America’s Top 10 winemakers.

On our visit, Sebastián encouraged us to “try a stone” when we asked what he credits for the special texture of his wines. We touched our tongue to the stone, and the chalkiness we sensed is indeed evoked in the polished minerality of his finished Concreto. 

He smiled, then said, “Why would I want to cover all that magic with oak?”