Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
This vintage is particularly bright and youthful, the firm red fruit flavors seemingly lit from within. The tannins have a rather untamed grip; if you open the wine now, do it next to the grill.
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James Suckling
This shows a silky and beautiful wine with plum, spice, salt and sliced meat. Full body, with wonderful fruit and spicy, meat and berry character. A little jammy but I like it a lot. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2011 Catena Alta Malbec is a blend of wines produced with Malbec grapes from different zones within Mendoza from their signature vineyards Angelica (Lunlunta), La Piramide (Agrelo), Nicasia (Altamira) and Adrianna (Gualtallary). It has a showy, ripe nose full of flowers and blueberries, very classic Malbec with nicely integrated oak aromas of spices. The palate is dry with fine, sweet tannins and some balsamic notes ending very fresh. Comparatively, I was more impressed with the 2011, but set side by side with the vintages of yesteryear this is a superb, austere Malbec.
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Wine Enthusiast
Meaty, minty scents accent core cassis, jammy blackberry and oaky aromas. In the mouth, this benchmark Argentinean Malbec is tight and structured, with no flab or excess weight. An exotic mix of blueberry, cassis and Middle East spices finish long, with oak-driven lemony snap. Drink through 2020.
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Wine Spectator
Fresh and engaging, with refined flavors of red plum, currant and spiced cherry, which are awash with sandalwood and hickory smoke notes. Shows good snap on the finish of milk chocolate and cream. Drink now through 2018.
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.