|
BODEGA CATENA
The Catena wines are a blend of single varietal lots from the Catena family's vineyards. Each vineyard is divided into lots that are harvested separately, and specially prepared to be part of the final blend of each Catena wine: Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Chardonnay. By blending components from different terroirs and altitudes, we aim to create the most balanced and expressive wine. Although we have found that most of the Catena wines are consumed shortly after release, we have been pleased to see that they age beautifully for ten to twenty years.
MAKING MALBEC ON THE MOONSCAPE: Argentina 2012
". . . What is pleasing is to find such a famous winery refusing to rest upon its laurels and in fact, through the irrepressible head winemaker Alejandro Vigil, a man who patently contemplates wines 24/7, Catena Zapata are looking forward and asking themselves questions about the style of wines they produce, what ought to be the next stage of their evolution, instead of merely replicating previous successes. Nothing exemplifies that more than the premium wines. Several years ago, it was 100% or even 200% new oak by rote. Nowadays, more consideration towards harmonizing the level of new oak to the fruit and the character of the wine has meant that it has been dialed down to 60%. Speaking to Alejandro, he might reduce it even further, but of course, it should depend upon what is best for the wine. In addition, there has been a revision in their approach to malolactic fermentation, as attested by their Chardonnays, the length of skin maceration (reduced from 30 to around 22 or 23 days) and more experimentation with whole cluster ferments and co-fermenting with white grape varieties. Anything is possible."
From Neal Martin
Wine Advocate #203, October 2012
|
Cabernet Sauvignon 2010