Maipú IG

Maipú is the old heart of Mendoza wine. The INV counted 11,709.9 hectares of vines here in 2018 and 10,630.7 in 2025, so it's losing ground, but it's still the second biggest of the central departments after Luján de Cuyo. In 2018 about 30% of the vines were over 25 years old, and 34.2% of everything planted was Malbec.

The INV describes the soils of the central area as loam to clay loam with a lot of gravel and river stone. They're very permeable, low in organic matter and free of salinity problems, and the water comes from the Mendoza river. The municipality puts rainfall at about 200 millimetres a year, so every vine is irrigated.

The names are old. Felipe Rutini founded Bodega La Rural in Coquimbito in 1885, Trapiche dates its start to 1883 and López to 1898, and the Zuccardi family started in Maipú in 1963. When I open a Maipú Malbec I'm looking for the ripeness this warm plain gives, with enough freshness left to stop it going heavy.