2024 Santa Julia Malbec El Burro Natural Mendoza 750 ml

The Zuccardi family has been a pillar of Mendoza winemaking since the 1950s. Their holdings span hundreds of acres of organically farmed land across the region, and their work at every level of the market—from the celebrated single-vineyard bottlings that earn perfect scores to the everyday wines that punch far above their weight—has cemented them as Argentina’s most important winemaking dynasty.

The Santa Julia label was created as a tribute to Julia Zuccardi, granddaughter of family patriarch Alberto, who planted the estate’s first vines in 1963. Under her leadership, Santa Julia has become Argentina’s largest owner of organic vineyards—nearly 1,000 acres—and the first winery in Mendoza to earn “Fair for Life” certification, a rigorous standard that accounts for fair wages and community investment alongside agricultural practices.

El Burro is the most unvarnished expression of all of it. The name nods to the working spirit of the estate, and the wine is made accordingly: no shortcuts, no additions, just organically farmed Malbec handled with as light a touch as the winery can manage. Ruben Ruffo, a 25-year veteran in the Zuccardi cellars, oversees the winemaking, while vineyard manager Edgardo Cónsoli tends the vines with a level of care you’d expect from a Bordeaux classified growth.

The grapes come from Maipú, which sits on the southern doorstep of Mendoza city and has been home to some of Argentina’s most important wineries since the 19th century. Its well-drained gravel soils and warm, sun-drenched growing season produce Malbec with a distinctive lushness and depth—and the Zuccardis have been farming here longer than most. Catena Zapata, Rutini, and Trapiche all have a presence in the district, drawn by the same gravelly terroir that makes this corner of Mendoza so reliably good for red wine.

For this bottling, the Malbec was organically farmed and entirely handpicked—two cost-intensive practices that would be impossible to find at a comparable price point elsewhere in the world. Fortunately, production costs are lower in Argentina, and it pays off in the glass.