Winemaker Notes
Serve with lamb chops with spinach and chevre.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2008 Argentino Malbec is a blend of 65% Adrianna and 35% Nicasia fruit. It, too, spent 24 months in 100% new French oak. The Argentino offers a similar aromatic and flavor profile but with just a bit of extra nuance, presumably because of the blending. Dense, rich, and voluptuous, this lengthy effort should easily achieve its 20th birthday in peak form. It will be most enjoyable to taste these three wines side-by-side in another 10-15 years.
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Wine Spectator
Very pure for the vintage, offering a core of racy blackberry, raspberry ganache and spicy fig paste notes that are woven with nuances of Asian spice, mesquite and grilled herb that linger on the long, fruit-filled finish. Drink now through 2015. 400 cases imported.
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Wine & Spirits
Soft and subtle aromas of figs and violets meld in this sweet malbec, its texture as creamy as ganache. It opens in the glass to reveal a cooler tone of cherries, refreshing the palate. Roast duck will highlight the voluptuous texture.
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.