Full article - Bodega Catena Zapata

Stephen Tanzer's
INTERNATIONAL WINE CELLAR
March / April 2014.
CATENA ZAPATA MALBEC ARGENTINO 2010 - 93 POINTS
(from 70-year-old vines): Bright, dark red-ruby. Superripe, slightly roasted
aromas of kirsch, blackberry, licorice and minerals. Fat, velvety and rich; can't
match the Adrianna Vineyard bottling for definition or lift but this is more
opulent, glossy and sweet. Really stains the palate with dark fruits and licorice
on the very long, smoothly tannic finish. Winemaker Alejandro Vigil describes
this bottling as Catena's asado wine.
CATENA ZAPATA ADRIANNA VINEYARD
MALBEC 2010 - 94+ POINTS
(contains 5% viognier; vinified with 40% whole clusters): Bright, deep ruby-red.
Exhilarating perfume of flowers, minerals and white peach, with dark berries in
the background. Deep, tactile, saline and energetic, boasting outstanding
inner-mouth perfume. If the Nicasia Vineyard wine is horizontal, this one is more
backward and vertical. Finishes sappy and long, with terrific lift. This utterly
fascinating and firmly structured malbec held up beautifully for four days in the
recorked bottle.
CATENA ZAPATA NICASIA VINEYARD
MALBEC 2010 - 93 POINTS
(a blend of 400 different lots, according to Alejandro Vigil; from 16-year-old
vines; blended with 8% cabernet franc and vinified with 30% whole clusters):
Bright ruby. Aromas of black fruits, licorice and bitter chocolate. Large-scaled,
velvety and deep; really spreads out horizontally to coat the palate with
creamy-sweet dark berry and chocolate flavors. Finishes very broad, with fully
ripe, building tannins.
CATENA ZAPATA ADRIANNA VINEYARD
CHARDONNAY WHITE STONES 2010 - 93+ POINTS
Good bright medium yellow. Very subdued nose hints at yellow fruits, ginger and
sexy smoky, spicy oak. Broad and suave on entry, then limey, tight and
youthfully imploded in the middle, showing less early texture and sweetness than
the White Bones. Conveys a strong soil character but this wine from a chalkier
parcel than the White Bones strikes me as less minerally today. Finishes very
suave but without quite the grip of the Bones. I may be underrating this
extremely young chardonnay.
CATENA ZAPATA ADRIANNA VINEYARD
CHARDONNAY WHITE BONES 2010 - 95+ POINTS
Full yellow with gold highlights. Utterly distinctive aromas of orange zest,
brown spices and crushed rock are lifted by ineffable, almost riesling-like high
notes of spearmint and citrus peel. Began musky and reduced but opened slowly
with air to show a chewy, tactile texture to the fascinating, powerfully mineral
flavors of citrus peel, mint, nutmeg and earth. A great expression of terroir, this
superb, extremely long chardonnay's thickness and saline character is leavened
by vibrant, dusty minerality. This was even more perfumed and captivating when
I drained the bottle three nights later. One of the most compelling and singular
chardonnays I've tasted from outside Burgundy in the last year.