Familia Zuccardi Santa Julia Organica Malbec – A Fine Wine For Malbec World Day

A fine wine for Malbec World Day on April 17th!

Received sample for review. Suggested retail price is $11, but should be widely available between $9 and $10.

From the bottle:

Santa Julia Organica is symbolic of our respect and care for the natural environment of Mendoza, the home of the company since its founding in 1963. Today, a third generation of family winemakers continue their mission through many programs that benefit the land and the community.

100% Organically grown grapes.
Social welfare programs.
Energy conservation.
Use of green fertilizers.
Wildlife preservation.
Vineyard irrigation from pure mountain water and water recycling programs.

This purple-red wine is packed with ripe fruit flavors of plum, cherry and strawberries with hints of chocolate and a spicy finish. It will pair well with steaks, burgers and pastas with red sauces.

12.5% Alcohol

As you can see from the label information, this winemaker does things a little differently. Take for instance, the organic grapes, grown using the “parral system” where the vines are trained to grow overhead in a series of arches. This increases ventilation and guarantees a good supply of light. Or take the employees, many of which are third generation workers. Familia Zuccardi employs their workers year round and even provides subsidized health care and free education. So, regardless of how the wine tastes you can feel good about drinking it, but is this wine all talk or is the quality of the wine as good as the methods that produce it?

I can gladly attest that this wine is not all talk. It begins with a really nice aroma of ripe fruit and it gets even better from there. The 2010 Santa Julia Organica Malbec exhibits notes of plum and cherries and is a very smooth, very drinkable, very nice Malbec. There’s even a little bit of spice on the finish, although it does end a bit abruptly. It even got a little better on day 2. Overall I’m quite impressed with the Santa Julia Malbec and I recommend you pick one up. This one will tie for our second highest rated Malbec to date and should find a spot on the next update of The Reverse Wine Snob Top 10 Wine List!

Buy this wine online from our featured sponsor Marketview Liquor!
See a listing of local retailers selling this wine here.

All ratings use a simple 10 point scale with 10 being the best. Find out more about my rating systemhere and check out the Interactive Wine Ranking to find all my reviews! You can sort by type of wine, cost, rating, etc. in the interactive spreadsheet.