Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2006 Malbec Adrianna Vineyard received the identical elevage as the Nicasia cuvee. It has a racier personality with a silky palate feel, sweet flavors, and exceptional length. It, too, merits 6-8 years of cellaring and will present a drinking window extending from 2013 to 2026.
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Wine & Spirits
At 4,600 feet, Adrianna is one of the highest vineyards in the Uco Valley. In 2006, it produced this intensely fresh and powerful malbec. Packed with the flavor and crunch of just-picked cherries, it moves across the palate with the tense, muscular force of its tannins. The structure manages to integrate with the fresh, fruity flavors, a true Andean breeze, filling the mouth with spice
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Wine Spectator
This is powerfully rendered, with dark fig, black tea, melted licorice and plum sauce notes cascading over one another, while dense, loamy tannins provide support. Superdense on the finish, but with a long, supple texture that lets the fruit sail on. Best from 2010 through 2012.
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.