Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Malbec
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
A generous and appealing malbec, this wine has the smooth sweetness of chocolate and a great depth of flavor. It's corseted by the acidity, which provides a clear delineation for this grand wine for lamb.
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Wine Enthusiast
Concentrated black fruit aromas are subtle and don't push real hard. It's jammy, deep and soft in the mouth, with sweet tannins and even sweeter core berry flavors and oak. Finishes smooth, with barrel influence and warmth. Very nice as always, but not as elevated and exact as prior vintages.
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Wine Spectator
Focused yet fleshy, offering notes of raspberry and blackberry preserves that are framed by toasty oak, spice and light mint notes, as the fruit lingers on the juicy finish. The better of two bottles tasted. Drink now. 4,100 cases imported.
Bodega Catena Zapata is one of Argentina's high-altitude Malbec pioneers. The Catena family began making wine in Mendoza in 1902. Nicolas Catena, third generation family vintner, was one of the first to see the potential of Mendoza's mountain vineyards for producing high quality Malbec. In 1994, he became the first Argentine to export a world-class bottling of Malbec under the Catena label. Nicolas is joined by his daughter, Dr. Laura Catena, in their relentless pursuit of world-class quality from the family's high-altitude vineyards. Laura has done extensive work in introducing Malbec and other varietal plant selections, soil and climate analysis, and sustainable practices throughout Mendoza. Head winemaker, Alejandro Vigil, has been at Catena Zapata since 2002 and works with Laura and Nicolas to make wines that express the family's vineyards and palate.
Most distinguished and celebrated from Argentina’s Mendoza, Malbec has seen runaway success since the early 2000s. Mendoza’s agreeable, continental climate with hot, dry summers and cold snowy winters allows the perfect conditions for growing outstanding Malbec. This grape is easy to like for its lusty, deep flavors and aromas of blackberry, plum, red cherry, autumn spice and tilled earth. It’s easy to find delicious, fruit-driven, affordable everyday examples and in prices beyond, quite exceptional ones with dense, supple textures that make them capable of aging.