Once again, the Zuccardi winery, Piedra Infinita, was awarded by The World’s Best Vineyards organization as the number one winery in the world. Every year The World’s Best Vineyards selects the 50 best wineries in the world. Again, and for the second consecutive year, the entities placed Zuccardi on the podium as number one.

Familia Zuccardi, the Valle de Uco winey located in La Consulta, won once again the award for the best vineyard in the world. The establishment called Piedra Infinita was also Cono Sur´s favorite in the category Bodega. The competition, The world´s Best Vineyards in tis 2020 edition had the particularity of being carried out in virtual way due to theisolation and prevention measures of the pandemicthat affects the world.

The competition, organized by different specialists and consumers from the world of wine, was carried out trough social networks. This is the second time that the Zucacardi family has obtained this distinction for its La Consulta vineyards.

The importance of the soil in Valle de Uco

The Zuccardi´s family, a tradition of Mendoza´s wine makers, settled in Uco Valley some years ago. Piedra infinita began construction in 2013 and was opened to tourism in March 2016. Last year, they received 25 thousand visitor. Most of them were foreigners.

The stone cellars has a production capacity of one millions liters of wine. It elaborates with grapes from three vineyards in different lcoations of the Uco Valley, Gualtallary, San Pablo and Altamira. Its icon wine, which last year was awarded 100 Parker points, is Piedra Infinita.

The name of the winery honors the poem Piedria Infinita written by the Mendoza poet Jose Ramponi. Wirh an innovative architecture that also also obtained important prizes. A metal dome that shines under the sun surprises visitors; curved lines and natural materials that respect the landscape were chosen for its realization. Sand and stones from the Tunuyan River were used in the design. The project was directed by Architect Fernando Raganato.

There is a higher concentration of calcium carbonate in the soil than elsewhere. In addition, the heterogeneity of these soils, the diversity of minerals, must be highlighted. All essential conditions for the exceptional development of the vineyards. Thus obtaining premium altitude wines. With outstanding characteristics.

This Academy is made up of almost 500 members among wine leaders, sommeliers and luxury travel correspondents. The members of this academy have been selected for their knowledge and experience in the international panorama ofthe world of wine and tourism, they are assigned to different geographical regions and each of them has a president of the academy, who is in charge of selecting 36 wine and travel experts who must vote for seven vineyards or wineries in order of preference, but at least four of them must be outside the region in which they are located.

What did you take into account when you chose them? This is a ranking of the best wine experiences that wine lovers can enjoy in the wineries and their vineyards, so many aspects are taken into account in the voting, such as accessibility, the winery's restaurant, the price of the visit, the staff guiding the visitors, or the reputation of the winery, among other issues. 

The academy comments that the list is a reference to the 50 most incredible places to taste different wines, admire architectural wonders, learn about winemaking, go into old wineries with a lot of tradition, and live experiences that are different and stand out from those provided by other wineries, such as art galleries, horse-drawn carriage rides through the vineyards, moonlight tasting experiences, etc.