Fruity nose of prune, mulberries and blackberries, accompanied by some liquorice. In the mouth very rich and smooth, with well integrated tannins and a pleasant acidity. The aftertaste is discreet but fairly long. Overall this wine is less bold than I expected.
Malbec is a black-skinned grape variety native of southwestern France, specifically the area around Cahors. It used to be part of the classic Bordeaux blend, but there it almost disappeared and is now better known as the iconic wine grape of Argentina, thanks to its success in the vineyards of Mendoza.
This wine is made by Bodega Catena Zapata with grapes from the Nicosia Vineyard in La Consulta, a small wine-growing sub-region in the southern Uco Valley of Mendoza, located above 1’000 m/s on the slopes of the lower Andes mountains.
Bodega Catena Zapata was founded in 1902 by Nicola Catena, Nicolás Catena Zapata’s grandfather, an Italian who moved to Argentina in 1898.
Domingo, Nicola’s eldest son, took the family winery to the next level, building the Catena business to become one of the largest vineyard holders in Mendoza.
In the early 1980s, Domingo’s son Nicolás got the opportunity to be a visiting scholar of economics at the University of California, Berkeley. While there he visited extensively the vineyards of Napa Valley and came back with the vision of replicating in Argentina what some winemaker were doing in California in improving the quality of their wines and coming to the international stage.
Nicolás decided to sell his table-wine producing company, to keep only Bodegas Esmeralda, the fine-wine branch of the family’s winery, and to become the first to export fine wine from Argentina.
The first Catena Malbec was made in 1994 and obtained the praises of Robert Parker. From there the road to fame for Bodega Catena Zapata and Argentina’s Malbec took off.
While cruising Antarctica 5 years ago, I got to taste a fair amount of very modestly priced Malbec wines from Argentina, which tended to deliver decent value for the cheap price. On the other side, back then I got the impression that the same is not true more up the price range.
An impression confirmed a couple of days ago when I drunk a Catena Viñas Malbec 2015 that sells at Mövenpick for 20 CHF: nose dominated by the oak and not much neither in the mouth nor in the aftertaste.
On the other hand, this is the second time I get to taste a single vineyard wine produced by Zapata and, although not priced cheaply, both wines at 70 CHF did deliver great value! For the record the other bottle was a 2006 Adrianna Vineyard that I drank in 2016.
Country: Argentina
Region: Mendoza
Grapes: Malbec
Type: Red
Vintage: 2008
Producer: Bodega Catena Zapata
Price range: Extra (50-100 US$)
Pascal’s Enjoyment Index: 5/5