Catena wines are the result of special combinations of the different vineyards run by the Catena family. Wines produced by Laura Catena, a fourth generation winemaker, and Alejandro Vigil, chief oenologist at Catena Zapata. Catena wines are splendid for drinking straight away, but they also have a huge laying down potential thanks to the decades of hard work the winery team have carried out studying and researching the variety of micro-climates at different altitudes in Mendoza. This particular wine is a blend of Malbec grapes from historic vines planted in excellent plots. A wine with a unique character, excellent typicity, balance and concentration thanks to its aromatic profile and rich flavours, the result of the wide range of soil kinds, micro-climates and altitudes its grapes enjoy.
After five days of cold maceration to obtain the most delicate aromas from the grape skins, the must ferments with wild yeasts for twelve days. The wine then undergoes a further 20 days of maceration, to obtain the structure providing the framework for its splendid fruit. It is then left to stand in oak barrels of different ages depending on the profile of each of the different wines.
Once the different wines have been blended, the result is an incredibly fresh and elegant, perfectly balanced wine with well-integrated wood and precise flavours. Catena Malbec is young, floral, and juicy, a pure single-variety wine with all the typicity of its grapes and the refined austerity of an honest wine. The Malbec grapes give it revealing aromas and a smooth velvety texture – all neatly rounded up with a long, dry and pleasant finish. All in all, as Robert Parker says, an amazing wine that should be bought by the case.
What does this wine taste like?
Light
Bold
Smooth
Tannic
Dry
Sweet
Soft
Acidic
Drinking and storing
Serve between 16ºC and 18ºC
Ratings and awards
2020
90 PK
91 SK
2019
92 PK
2018
91+ PK
2017
91 PK
2016
92 PK
2015
91 PK
PK: ParkerSK: Suckling
Customer reviews
4.5/5
62 reviews
Vintage:
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by: Karl (18/04/2023) - Vintage 2020
0
Amazing unique malbec
Like many Malbec. Have bought many. Most good. This is unique. Found it in Budapest’s best hotel. Searched it online to buy. It’s got a Smokey peaty flavor like my dads favorite laphroaig scotch. Just enough not too much. Shared it with 5 picky Friends all agree fantastic wine and an absurdly low price
by: Erik (31/10/2023) - Vintage 2020
0
I was a little disappointed
The reputation of the area and the house are beyond dispute but this particular wine seems somewhat unbalanced with the fruits not really being able to stand up to the copious amounts of vanilla from the wood.
by: Guy (09/11/2018) - Vintage 2015
0
Balanced Malbec
Good Malbec for the price but I hoped for a more fuller bodied fruity Malbec and therefore only 3 stars. This is more for people liking the more balanced Malbec.
by: robert elston (14/10/2021) - Vintage 2019
0
Son prim cup
Excellent wine - complex n deep. Overall excellent service Delivered on time and very well packed
by: Pires de Oliveira, Fabio (21/09/2023) - Vintage 2020
0
Great Malbec
Classic Argentinian Malbec, well balanced, love it
Winemaking
Ageing period
12 months
Barrel age
New and sused
Type of wood
French and American oak
The winery
Bodega Catena Zapata
In keeping with family tradition, Nicolás Catena Zapata is now the third generation to run the winery and can count on daughter Laura to follow in his footsteps. They have been able to make the most of terroir best described as poor, yet exceptional, holding to the firm belief that these particular lands possess hidden qualities, excellent for grape-growing.
The wine-making philosophy of Nicolás Catena lies in the art of blending fruit from different vineyards. Despite the...
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