Catena Zapata
About Catena Zapata
Nicolas Catena is the man known for revolutionizing Argentine wine in the 1980s, introducing the world to Malbec. A pioneer of high-altitude Malbec in Argentina, Catena Zapata was the first to venture into the wild and unknown vineyard area called Gualtallary in Mendoza. After more than 100 years of winemaking history, the family estate is now in the hands of Laura Catena.
Viniculture
While some prefer the European style of Malbec from the Adrianna vineyard; others prefer the more powerful style from Nicasia. Then there are those who sit on the fence (or perhaps, prefer the balance) and enjoy the blend of both Adrianna and Nicasia vineyards, in the Argentino.
The Nicolas Catena cuvée is named after the man himself who is probably more responsible than anyone else for the superb reputation the wines of Argentina enjoy in the fine wine world today. With its inaugural 1997 vintage, Nicolas Catena became the first luxury cuvée from Argentina to be exported around the world. The wine recreates the “Original Bordeaux Blend” of the 18th and 19th Centuries, when Malbec dominated over Merlot and was in equal standing to Cabernet Sauvignon in the Médoc.
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Prices:
| Product Name | Region | Qty | Score | Price | |||||
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Mendoza | 1 | 98 (RP) |
Inc. VAT
£809.54 |
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Wine Advocate - Robert Parker (98)The 2011 Malbec Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard is Malbec from the eponymous vineyard in Gualtallary close to 1,500 meters altitude fermented together with some Viognier exclusively from the plots where the soil is rich in calcium carbonate. The vineyard is planted at high density, 12,000 plants per hectare. If all the vintages of Adrianna are to dream about, this could be the most balanced, harmonious, elegant and mineral of them all. The sense of place here is tremendous, it transfers you to the Gualtallary vineyards at the foot of the Andes with its stony, chalky soils. There is a sense of harmony and subtlety like you rarely see. The wine dances on the tongue and seems light on its feet, yet has a hidden power and concentration that is noticeable on the finish. The flavors stay forever on the finish and the lips are salty. Otherworldy. Words do not do justice to this beauty. It goes far beyond the variety, I didn't think about Malbec, I thought about the place and forgot about the grapes. The flavors linger in your mouth forever. I'd love to encounter this wine again in ten years time. 4,000 bottles produced. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 98 (WA) |
Inc. VAT
£610.82 |
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Wine Advocate (98)No note available. |
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Mendoza | 12 | 97 (WA) |
Inc. VAT
£746.42 |
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Wine Advocate (97)There are three separate bottling from the Adrianna vineyard, one of them the 2013 Adrianna Vineyard Mundus Bacillus Terrae, from the shallow and limestone soils with a south-facing, cold exposure, that was coupled by a cool year. This has higher acidity and citric, effervescent acidity combined with chalky tannins providing length and freshness. This is terrific. 2,000 bottles were filled in December 2015. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 98 (JS) |
Inc. VAT
£489.62 |
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James Suckling (98)This is a phenomenal malbec with intense blue fruits such as blueberries and blackberries. Black truffle, too. Full-bodied, bright and juicy with fantastic power and richness. Yet the acidity just keeps going. Volcanic salt and white peppers. A thoroughly breathtaking wine. Try after 2020. |
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Mendoza | 2 | 97 (WA) |
Inc. VAT
£750.62 |
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Wine Advocate (97)The 2016 Adrianna Vineyard Mundus Bacillus Terrae is from a cold and rainy El Niño vintage that broke the mold of typical Mendoza weather. The grapes were picked a bit later and achieved a slow, perfect ripening while retaining very good freshness. They used 50% full clusters in this cooler year. The wine was pressed before it finished fermenting (in concrete), and the juice—without skins, pips or stems—finished fermenting like a white in the foudre. When I tasted the wines after bottling, this felt a bit dizzy, with the aromatics coming and going, sometimes showing a little open. But the wine settled in bottle, and the palate shows the core of acidity that lifts the wine and provides incredible freshness; the tannins are ultra refined, and there is great overall balance. Yields were lower, so they only filled some 3,360 bottles. |
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Mendoza | 6 | 98 (JS) |
Inc. VAT
£822.02 |
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James Suckling (98)A layered and very soft red with checked yet unctuous tannins. Full body and caressing texture. Plenty of meat, earth and decadent notes. Great finish. A joy to taste. Drink or hold. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 98 (JA) |
Inc. VAT
£685.22 |
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Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (98)Let the aromatics slowly unfurl out of the glass, really give it time. Crushed raspberries and tobacco, fresh flowers, salty crackers, oyster shell. The weight, the texture, the acidity are all in balance, playing off each other, and this is just a wonderful wine that stops you in your tracks. Located at 1,450m, from a 1.4ha limestone plot, particularly rich in microorganisms (as we learnt through their brilliant recent terroir studies). It’s a place where phenolic ripeness happens slowly, and the complexity builds as a result. A spring frost reduced yields by about 20%, fermented with 50% whole cluster between concrete vats and oak casks. 4800 bottles produced. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 100 (JA) |
Inc. VAT
£708.62 |
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Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (100)One of the most exciting wines of the September Releases, and one that captures the progress and interest around terroir in the Argentinian wine scene right now. This is set at 1,500m elevation, on limestone dominant soils, and it immediately sets itself apart by its soaring aromatics that give nuance and depth, with seductively curling peony and raspberry leaf. Powerful and full of character, somehow translates the idea of minerality that is so argued over in wine - here you feel it in the slightly chalky tannins, the pulses of electricity, and dried herb and fennel studding to the fresh raspberry and red cherry fruits. So good. Ungrafted vines, Fernando Buscema winemaker. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 98 (JA) |
Inc. VAT
£657.02 |
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Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (98)Always a pleasure to taste this wine, from 1.4ha of limestone soils at 1,390m elevation, and once again it delivers at the top of its category. It has a reticence at first, with an austere opening that punches through to fragrant dried and freshly cut sage and fennel herbs, rich with incense, black tea, crushed flowers, blackcurrant, cassis and raspberry fruits, spiced pear, chalk, graphite, white truffle. It's hard to stop when it comes to naming the flavours, so drawn out and precisely crafted is the construction. 475 cases from winemaker Alejandro Vigil, Fermentation in concrete with 50% whole cluster, followed by ageing in 75% French oak barrels, 25% in large oak casks. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 96 (WA) |
Inc. VAT
£327.62 |
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Wine Advocate (96)There are three separate bottling from the Adrianna vineyard, one of them the 2013 Adrianna Vineyard Fortuna Terrae, sourced from the part of the vineyard with slightly deeper soils (we're talking only about 70 centimeters here!) that has limestone underneath, is flatter and provides very aromatic, slightly lighter wines, more feminine if you like. It's very floral, gentle, with fine tannins with a good structure based on a combination with superb acidity. This is also lighter colored, the more Pinot of the three. Some 3,000 bottles were filled in December 2015. |
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Mendoza | 16 | 98 (JS) |
Inc. VAT
£373.22 |
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James Suckling (98)This is another phenomenal Fortuna Terrae that just rolls across the palate with amazingly complex and beautiful fruit. Full body yet tight and refined. Berry, light meat, mushroom and truffle character. Made from organically grown grapes. Love now. |
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Mendoza | 29 | 95 (WA) |
Inc. VAT
£373.22 |
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Wine Advocate (95)Like many other 2015s, there is a little more ripeness in the 2015 Adrianna Vineyard Fortuna Terrae, and the year is more marked and more noticeable in this bottling. It's juicy, floral, expressive and more gentle within the serious and austere profile the place provides. 6,600 bottles were filled in July 2017. |
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Mendoza | 18 | 97 (WA) |
Inc. VAT
£373.22 |
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Wine Advocate (97)Cropped from a cooler and wetter year, the 2016 Adrianna Vineyard Fortuna Terrae was bottled with six months less time in oak than in other years. The wines are somehow lighter and more mineral, and they didn't want the oak to mark them. This comes from deeper soils that deliver more fruit, and of the three reds from Adrianna, this is always the one that shows more gentle, approachable and open, with more fruit up front. There are some notes of tobacco and spices. Considering how young the wine is and the fact that it will not be released for another year, the wine is going to be immediately appealing on release but should also develop nicely in bottle. The 2016 is the most complete of the three vintages I tasted together—2014, 2015 and 2016. They bottled some 5,000 bottles in March 2018. |
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Mendoza | 28 | 98 (JS) |
Inc. VAT
£373.22 |
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James Suckling (98)A dense and layered red with fantastic, soft and silky tannins that entice every inch of your palate. Full-bodied yet agile and energetic. Great depth and richness. So much violet and blackberry character. Hints of asphalt. Drink in 2022, but already a classic. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 98 (JA) |
Inc. VAT
£327.62 |
|||||
Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (98)Let the aromatics slowly unfurl out of the glass, really give it time. Crushed raspberries and tobacco, fresh flowers, salty crackers, oyster shell. The weight, the texture, the acidity are all in balance, playing off each other, and this is just a wonderful wine that stops you in your tracks. Located at 1,450m, from a 1.4ha limestone plot, particularly rich in microorganisms (as we learnt through their brilliant recent terroir studies). It's a place where phenolic ripeness happens slowly and the complexity builds as a result. A spring frost reduced yields by about 20%, fermented with 50% whole cluster between concrete vats and oak casks. 4800 bottles produced. |
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Mendoza | 2 | 99 (JS) |
Inc. VAT
£371.54 |
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James Suckling (99)Blackberries with some black tea and perfumes. Full-bodied with fine, dusty tannins and seamless texture. So long and consistent. 60% whole cluster fermentation with 14 months in oak casks. Glorious, tactile wine. Drinkable now, but better in three or four years. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 98 (WA) |
Inc. VAT
£305.54 |
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Wine Advocate (98)The 2020 Adrianna Vineyard Fortuna Terrae shows exceptionally well. It's still young and juicy with some baby fat that should get rendered with some more time in bottle. It's a little lighter, and the tannins gave it grip and a chalky limestone sensation. But the wine is very expressive, with purity, clean and precise and not showing any signs of coming from a warmer year like 2020. It finishes with the telltale violets from the great Malbec grape coated by chalky minerality. This plot behaves well in warmer years like this one. It was bottled in October 2021. 5,400 bottles produced. |
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Mendoza | 2 | 100 (JS) |
Inc. VAT
£422.42 |
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James Suckling (100)This is really something. There’s purity and focus to the aromas of crushed berries, licorice and black tea, which follow through to an integrated palate of extremely fine, melted tannins that spread to the very ends of the wine. This is all about balance and length. It really is an emotional wine. Great follow-up to the 2017, which was also 100 points. Drinkable now, but better after 2024. |
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Mendoza | 2 | 98 (JS) |
Inc. VAT
£473.54 |
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James Suckling (98)So bright and aromatic with flowers and blackberries, as well as some black olives. Full-bodied with lots of tannins, yet they are so fine and integrated and spread across the palate. This is all whole-cluster fermentation and 18 months in large oak casks. Needs about four or five years to come together. |
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Mendoza | 7 | 98 (WA) |
Inc. VAT
£430.82 |
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Wine Advocate (98)The 2014 Adrianna Vineyard River Stones is the second vintage of the Malbec from the stonier part of the Adrianna Vineyard in Gualtallary that is next to a dry river bed (the vineyard has 110 hectares that were planted in 1994). It fermented in open-top 500-liter oak barrels with full clusters. It was pressed before the end of fermentation, and it then finished fermenting without skins (like a white) and matured in 1,800-liter oak foudre for 18 months. It's a compact, super serious Malbec with concentration and power, great balance, abundant tannins, strong minerality, firm texture, great austerity and no concessions for sweetness whatsoever. It has all that it takes to develop for a long time in bottle. 5,400 bottles were filled in July 2016. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 100 (WA) |
Inc. VAT
£920.42 |
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Wine Advocate (100)Like the other Malbecs from Adrianna Vineyard, the 2016 Adrianna Vineyard River Stones was bottled a little earlier, and the time in oak was shortened. It was a most unusual year that was cold and rainy and allowed for no irrigation. This has good ripeness and sharp acidity, making it powerful but extremely fresh, with a backbone of acidity that lifts the wine up and makes it extremely long and persistent. In fact, the wine blows me away with an unusual combination of power and elegance; it shows detailed and nuanced, with subtle aromas of violets, spices, tobacco and wet chalk. It has a velvety texture with ultra refined, fine-grained tannins. It is precise in the acidity and on the palate, with the textbook chalky tannins and a sapid, almost salty finish. This is serious, austere, mineral, long, compact, harmonious and concentrated, yet it feels light and has that somewhat contradictory powerful elegance. This has to be the best wine ever produced at Catena. I'd love to have a time machine and taste this wine in 20 years' time... There are some 3,800 bottles of this. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 100 (JS) |
Inc. VAT
£339.62 |
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James Suckling (100)Incredible aromas of blackberries, hot stones, wet earth and flowers. Full-bodied, it floats across the palate with ultra-fine tannins that melt into the wine. Superb, long finish of subtle fruit and terroir-defined subtleties. Try in 2022, but already a dream to taste. |
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Mendoza | 3 | 95 (WA) |
Inc. VAT
£402.02 |
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Wine Advocate (95)The 2012 White Bones Chardonnay is also sourced from selected rows in the Adrianna vineyard in Gualtallary, produced in exactly the same way as the White Stones Chardonnay with barrels developing a thin layer of yeasts on top that provide extra complexity and nuances. The oak feels better integrated each vintage and while 2012 was clearly warmer and riper than 2011, the wine keeps that sharp acidity that provide freshness. However, in 2012 this is almost challenged by its sibling White Stones, which nearly reaches the same level of sophistication and complexity. I'm dying to taste the 2013s of these two groundbreaking Chardonnays. This vintage also yielded fewer bottles, around 2,100 of the elixir. |
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Mendoza | 10 | 96 (JS) |
Inc. VAT
£402.02 |
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James Suckling (96)Aromas of stone, chalk and cooked apple follow through to a full body, with so much sea salt, dried apple and pear character. Extremely long finish. Drink now or hold. Made from organically grown grapes. |
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Mendoza | 5 | 96 (WA) |
Inc. VAT
£402.02 |
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Wine Advocate (96)I had two vintages to taste from the two whites from Adrianna Vineyard, which provided a fascinating comparison. Like all the rest, the 2015 White Bones Chardonnay had a long fermentation with wild yeasts and aged in French barriques for some 12 to 16 months, depending on the lot. It's fascinating to compare this with the 2016 and with both years from the White Stones. This is the more exuberant, open, aromatic and balsamic of the four wines, while it is still very young and fresh. The palate is also very expressive and combines power with elegance and freshness. It's long, tasty and mineral, with a salty finish. 4,500 bottles were filled in July 2016. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 98 (JS) |
Inc. VAT
£309.62 |
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James Suckling (98)A dense and bright chardonnay that shows incredible depth and freshness with dried pineapple, licorice, aniseed and lemongrass. Full-bodied, layered and very, very long. Linear and exciting. Goes on for minutes. Release in October 2018. Drink or hold. |
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Mendoza | 2 | 98 (JS) |
Inc. VAT
£351.62 |
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James Suckling (98)Honeysuckle, ripe pear and some dried apple. So perfumed. Full-bodied with incredible intensity and length. So much green-apple character and lots of flowers. Dried mango, too. The touch of flor growth in the barrel gives this unique character. Goes on for minutes on the finish. Endless, vibrant acidity. Minerally texture. Drink now or hold. |
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Mendoza | 22 | 99 (JS) |
Inc. VAT
£488.42 |
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James Suckling (99)Fascinating nose of white lavender, lemon, pineapple, green apple, thyme, rosemary, sourdough, almond and oyster shell. It’s medium-bodied with vibrant acidity and a tense, spicy palate. So much flavor and fragrance. Incredibly expressive, with evolving layers of fresh fruit, spices, flowers and herbs. Drink or hold. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 98 (WA) |
Inc. VAT
£303.62 |
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Wine Advocate (98)My favorite of the Adrianna whites, the 2016 White Stones Chardonnay was cropped from a low-yielding, cool and wet year, very unusual weather in Mendoza. It's sharp, austere, mineral and long. No matter how impressed I was with the 2015 or the two vintages of the White Bones I tasted next to it, this stole the show. It has a combination of mineral notes that transmit a serious sensation with hints of flowers, spices and herbs that show in a very subtle way. The palate is liquid chalk, with sharp and pungent flavors, nicely textured. It's precise, linear, long and sharp, with great length and persistence. It will be fascinating to see how this wine evolves in bottle, because I think we can have a big surprise in ten years from now. 6,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in July 2017. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 98+ (WA) |
Inc. VAT
£284.42 |
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Wine Advocate (98+)The outstanding 2018 White Stones Chardonnay epitomizes the expression of the grape in the cooler-climate and high-altitude location of the Adrianna vineyard in Gualtallary. There is rectitude, austerity and elegance, a subtle wine with great clout and intensity that comes through as chiseled, focused, symmetric and pure, more in the style of Roulot than Coche-Dury, with superb integration of all the elements and fine minerality. This is more about the place and vintage than the grape, which feels like a good way to transmit the chalky soils of the selected plots. Simply superb, possibly the finest vintage for this bottling so far. 6,600 bottles were filled in May 2019. |
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| Product Name | Region | Qty | Score | Price | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Mendoza | 1 | 98 (RP) |
In Bond
£665.00 |
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Wine Advocate - Robert Parker (98)The 2011 Malbec Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard is Malbec from the eponymous vineyard in Gualtallary close to 1,500 meters altitude fermented together with some Viognier exclusively from the plots where the soil is rich in calcium carbonate. The vineyard is planted at high density, 12,000 plants per hectare. If all the vintages of Adrianna are to dream about, this could be the most balanced, harmonious, elegant and mineral of them all. The sense of place here is tremendous, it transfers you to the Gualtallary vineyards at the foot of the Andes with its stony, chalky soils. There is a sense of harmony and subtlety like you rarely see. The wine dances on the tongue and seems light on its feet, yet has a hidden power and concentration that is noticeable on the finish. The flavors stay forever on the finish and the lips are salty. Otherworldy. Words do not do justice to this beauty. It goes far beyond the variety, I didn't think about Malbec, I thought about the place and forgot about the grapes. The flavors linger in your mouth forever. I'd love to encounter this wine again in ten years time. 4,000 bottles produced. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 98 (WA) |
In Bond
£501.00 |
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Wine Advocate (98)No note available. |
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Mendoza | 12 | 97 (WA) |
In Bond
£614.00 |
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Wine Advocate (97)There are three separate bottling from the Adrianna vineyard, one of them the 2013 Adrianna Vineyard Mundus Bacillus Terrae, from the shallow and limestone soils with a south-facing, cold exposure, that was coupled by a cool year. This has higher acidity and citric, effervescent acidity combined with chalky tannins providing length and freshness. This is terrific. 2,000 bottles were filled in December 2015. |
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|
|
Mendoza | 1 | 98 (JS) |
In Bond
£400.00 |
|||||
James Suckling (98)This is a phenomenal malbec with intense blue fruits such as blueberries and blackberries. Black truffle, too. Full-bodied, bright and juicy with fantastic power and richness. Yet the acidity just keeps going. Volcanic salt and white peppers. A thoroughly breathtaking wine. Try after 2020. |
|||||||||
|
|
Mendoza | 2 | 97 (WA) |
In Bond
£617.50 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (97)The 2016 Adrianna Vineyard Mundus Bacillus Terrae is from a cold and rainy El Niño vintage that broke the mold of typical Mendoza weather. The grapes were picked a bit later and achieved a slow, perfect ripening while retaining very good freshness. They used 50% full clusters in this cooler year. The wine was pressed before it finished fermenting (in concrete), and the juice—without skins, pips or stems—finished fermenting like a white in the foudre. When I tasted the wines after bottling, this felt a bit dizzy, with the aromatics coming and going, sometimes showing a little open. But the wine settled in bottle, and the palate shows the core of acidity that lifts the wine and provides incredible freshness; the tannins are ultra refined, and there is great overall balance. Yields were lower, so they only filled some 3,360 bottles. |
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Mendoza | 6 | 98 (JS) |
In Bond
£677.00 |
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James Suckling (98)A layered and very soft red with checked yet unctuous tannins. Full body and caressing texture. Plenty of meat, earth and decadent notes. Great finish. A joy to taste. Drink or hold. |
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|
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Mendoza | 1 | 98 (JA) |
In Bond
£563.00 |
|||||
Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (98)Let the aromatics slowly unfurl out of the glass, really give it time. Crushed raspberries and tobacco, fresh flowers, salty crackers, oyster shell. The weight, the texture, the acidity are all in balance, playing off each other, and this is just a wonderful wine that stops you in your tracks. Located at 1,450m, from a 1.4ha limestone plot, particularly rich in microorganisms (as we learnt through their brilliant recent terroir studies). It’s a place where phenolic ripeness happens slowly, and the complexity builds as a result. A spring frost reduced yields by about 20%, fermented with 50% whole cluster between concrete vats and oak casks. 4800 bottles produced. |
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|
|
Mendoza | 1 | 100 (JA) |
In Bond
£582.50 |
|||||
Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (100)One of the most exciting wines of the September Releases, and one that captures the progress and interest around terroir in the Argentinian wine scene right now. This is set at 1,500m elevation, on limestone dominant soils, and it immediately sets itself apart by its soaring aromatics that give nuance and depth, with seductively curling peony and raspberry leaf. Powerful and full of character, somehow translates the idea of minerality that is so argued over in wine - here you feel it in the slightly chalky tannins, the pulses of electricity, and dried herb and fennel studding to the fresh raspberry and red cherry fruits. So good. Ungrafted vines, Fernando Buscema winemaker. |
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|
Mendoza | 1 | 98 (JA) |
In Bond
£539.50 |
|||||
Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (98)Always a pleasure to taste this wine, from 1.4ha of limestone soils at 1,390m elevation, and once again it delivers at the top of its category. It has a reticence at first, with an austere opening that punches through to fragrant dried and freshly cut sage and fennel herbs, rich with incense, black tea, crushed flowers, blackcurrant, cassis and raspberry fruits, spiced pear, chalk, graphite, white truffle. It's hard to stop when it comes to naming the flavours, so drawn out and precisely crafted is the construction. 475 cases from winemaker Alejandro Vigil, Fermentation in concrete with 50% whole cluster, followed by ageing in 75% French oak barrels, 25% in large oak casks. |
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|
|
Mendoza | 1 | 96 (WA) |
In Bond
£265.00 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (96)There are three separate bottling from the Adrianna vineyard, one of them the 2013 Adrianna Vineyard Fortuna Terrae, sourced from the part of the vineyard with slightly deeper soils (we're talking only about 70 centimeters here!) that has limestone underneath, is flatter and provides very aromatic, slightly lighter wines, more feminine if you like. It's very floral, gentle, with fine tannins with a good structure based on a combination with superb acidity. This is also lighter colored, the more Pinot of the three. Some 3,000 bottles were filled in December 2015. |
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Mendoza | 16 | 98 (JS) |
In Bond
£303.00 |
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James Suckling (98)This is another phenomenal Fortuna Terrae that just rolls across the palate with amazingly complex and beautiful fruit. Full body yet tight and refined. Berry, light meat, mushroom and truffle character. Made from organically grown grapes. Love now. |
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Mendoza | 29 | 95 (WA) |
In Bond
£303.00 |
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Wine Advocate (95)Like many other 2015s, there is a little more ripeness in the 2015 Adrianna Vineyard Fortuna Terrae, and the year is more marked and more noticeable in this bottling. It's juicy, floral, expressive and more gentle within the serious and austere profile the place provides. 6,600 bottles were filled in July 2017. |
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Mendoza | 18 | 97 (WA) |
In Bond
£303.00 |
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Wine Advocate (97)Cropped from a cooler and wetter year, the 2016 Adrianna Vineyard Fortuna Terrae was bottled with six months less time in oak than in other years. The wines are somehow lighter and more mineral, and they didn't want the oak to mark them. This comes from deeper soils that deliver more fruit, and of the three reds from Adrianna, this is always the one that shows more gentle, approachable and open, with more fruit up front. There are some notes of tobacco and spices. Considering how young the wine is and the fact that it will not be released for another year, the wine is going to be immediately appealing on release but should also develop nicely in bottle. The 2016 is the most complete of the three vintages I tasted together—2014, 2015 and 2016. They bottled some 5,000 bottles in March 2018. |
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|
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Mendoza | 28 | 98 (JS) |
In Bond
£303.00 |
|||||
James Suckling (98)A dense and layered red with fantastic, soft and silky tannins that entice every inch of your palate. Full-bodied yet agile and energetic. Great depth and richness. So much violet and blackberry character. Hints of asphalt. Drink in 2022, but already a classic. |
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|
|
Mendoza | 1 | 98 (JA) |
In Bond
£265.00 |
|||||
Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (98)Let the aromatics slowly unfurl out of the glass, really give it time. Crushed raspberries and tobacco, fresh flowers, salty crackers, oyster shell. The weight, the texture, the acidity are all in balance, playing off each other, and this is just a wonderful wine that stops you in your tracks. Located at 1,450m, from a 1.4ha limestone plot, particularly rich in microorganisms (as we learnt through their brilliant recent terroir studies). It's a place where phenolic ripeness happens slowly and the complexity builds as a result. A spring frost reduced yields by about 20%, fermented with 50% whole cluster between concrete vats and oak casks. 4800 bottles produced. |
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|
|
Mendoza | 2 | 99 (JS) |
In Bond
£300.00 |
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James Suckling (99)Blackberries with some black tea and perfumes. Full-bodied with fine, dusty tannins and seamless texture. So long and consistent. 60% whole cluster fermentation with 14 months in oak casks. Glorious, tactile wine. Drinkable now, but better in three or four years. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 98 (WA) |
In Bond
£245.00 |
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Wine Advocate (98)The 2020 Adrianna Vineyard Fortuna Terrae shows exceptionally well. It's still young and juicy with some baby fat that should get rendered with some more time in bottle. It's a little lighter, and the tannins gave it grip and a chalky limestone sensation. But the wine is very expressive, with purity, clean and precise and not showing any signs of coming from a warmer year like 2020. It finishes with the telltale violets from the great Malbec grape coated by chalky minerality. This plot behaves well in warmer years like this one. It was bottled in October 2021. 5,400 bottles produced. |
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Mendoza | 2 | 100 (JS) |
In Bond
£344.00 |
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James Suckling (100)This is really something. There’s purity and focus to the aromas of crushed berries, licorice and black tea, which follow through to an integrated palate of extremely fine, melted tannins that spread to the very ends of the wine. This is all about balance and length. It really is an emotional wine. Great follow-up to the 2017, which was also 100 points. Drinkable now, but better after 2024. |
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Mendoza | 2 | 98 (JS) |
In Bond
£385.00 |
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James Suckling (98)So bright and aromatic with flowers and blackberries, as well as some black olives. Full-bodied with lots of tannins, yet they are so fine and integrated and spread across the palate. This is all whole-cluster fermentation and 18 months in large oak casks. Needs about four or five years to come together. |
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Mendoza | 7 | 98 (WA) |
In Bond
£351.00 |
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Wine Advocate (98)The 2014 Adrianna Vineyard River Stones is the second vintage of the Malbec from the stonier part of the Adrianna Vineyard in Gualtallary that is next to a dry river bed (the vineyard has 110 hectares that were planted in 1994). It fermented in open-top 500-liter oak barrels with full clusters. It was pressed before the end of fermentation, and it then finished fermenting without skins (like a white) and matured in 1,800-liter oak foudre for 18 months. It's a compact, super serious Malbec with concentration and power, great balance, abundant tannins, strong minerality, firm texture, great austerity and no concessions for sweetness whatsoever. It has all that it takes to develop for a long time in bottle. 5,400 bottles were filled in July 2016. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 100 (WA) |
In Bond
£759.00 |
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Wine Advocate (100)Like the other Malbecs from Adrianna Vineyard, the 2016 Adrianna Vineyard River Stones was bottled a little earlier, and the time in oak was shortened. It was a most unusual year that was cold and rainy and allowed for no irrigation. This has good ripeness and sharp acidity, making it powerful but extremely fresh, with a backbone of acidity that lifts the wine up and makes it extremely long and persistent. In fact, the wine blows me away with an unusual combination of power and elegance; it shows detailed and nuanced, with subtle aromas of violets, spices, tobacco and wet chalk. It has a velvety texture with ultra refined, fine-grained tannins. It is precise in the acidity and on the palate, with the textbook chalky tannins and a sapid, almost salty finish. This is serious, austere, mineral, long, compact, harmonious and concentrated, yet it feels light and has that somewhat contradictory powerful elegance. This has to be the best wine ever produced at Catena. I'd love to have a time machine and taste this wine in 20 years' time... There are some 3,800 bottles of this. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 100 (JS) |
In Bond
£275.00 |
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James Suckling (100)Incredible aromas of blackberries, hot stones, wet earth and flowers. Full-bodied, it floats across the palate with ultra-fine tannins that melt into the wine. Superb, long finish of subtle fruit and terroir-defined subtleties. Try in 2022, but already a dream to taste. |
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Mendoza | 3 | 95 (WA) |
In Bond
£327.00 |
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Wine Advocate (95)The 2012 White Bones Chardonnay is also sourced from selected rows in the Adrianna vineyard in Gualtallary, produced in exactly the same way as the White Stones Chardonnay with barrels developing a thin layer of yeasts on top that provide extra complexity and nuances. The oak feels better integrated each vintage and while 2012 was clearly warmer and riper than 2011, the wine keeps that sharp acidity that provide freshness. However, in 2012 this is almost challenged by its sibling White Stones, which nearly reaches the same level of sophistication and complexity. I'm dying to taste the 2013s of these two groundbreaking Chardonnays. This vintage also yielded fewer bottles, around 2,100 of the elixir. |
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Mendoza | 10 | 96 (JS) |
In Bond
£327.00 |
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James Suckling (96)Aromas of stone, chalk and cooked apple follow through to a full body, with so much sea salt, dried apple and pear character. Extremely long finish. Drink now or hold. Made from organically grown grapes. |
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Mendoza | 5 | 96 (WA) |
In Bond
£327.00 |
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Wine Advocate (96)I had two vintages to taste from the two whites from Adrianna Vineyard, which provided a fascinating comparison. Like all the rest, the 2015 White Bones Chardonnay had a long fermentation with wild yeasts and aged in French barriques for some 12 to 16 months, depending on the lot. It's fascinating to compare this with the 2016 and with both years from the White Stones. This is the more exuberant, open, aromatic and balsamic of the four wines, while it is still very young and fresh. The palate is also very expressive and combines power with elegance and freshness. It's long, tasty and mineral, with a salty finish. 4,500 bottles were filled in July 2016. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 98 (JS) |
In Bond
£250.00 |
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James Suckling (98)A dense and bright chardonnay that shows incredible depth and freshness with dried pineapple, licorice, aniseed and lemongrass. Full-bodied, layered and very, very long. Linear and exciting. Goes on for minutes. Release in October 2018. Drink or hold. |
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Mendoza | 2 | 98 (JS) |
In Bond
£285.00 |
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James Suckling (98)Honeysuckle, ripe pear and some dried apple. So perfumed. Full-bodied with incredible intensity and length. So much green-apple character and lots of flowers. Dried mango, too. The touch of flor growth in the barrel gives this unique character. Goes on for minutes on the finish. Endless, vibrant acidity. Minerally texture. Drink now or hold. |
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Mendoza | 22 | 99 (JS) |
In Bond
£399.00 |
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James Suckling (99)Fascinating nose of white lavender, lemon, pineapple, green apple, thyme, rosemary, sourdough, almond and oyster shell. It’s medium-bodied with vibrant acidity and a tense, spicy palate. So much flavor and fragrance. Incredibly expressive, with evolving layers of fresh fruit, spices, flowers and herbs. Drink or hold. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 98 (WA) |
In Bond
£245.00 |
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Wine Advocate (98)My favorite of the Adrianna whites, the 2016 White Stones Chardonnay was cropped from a low-yielding, cool and wet year, very unusual weather in Mendoza. It's sharp, austere, mineral and long. No matter how impressed I was with the 2015 or the two vintages of the White Bones I tasted next to it, this stole the show. It has a combination of mineral notes that transmit a serious sensation with hints of flowers, spices and herbs that show in a very subtle way. The palate is liquid chalk, with sharp and pungent flavors, nicely textured. It's precise, linear, long and sharp, with great length and persistence. It will be fascinating to see how this wine evolves in bottle, because I think we can have a big surprise in ten years from now. 6,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in July 2017. |
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Mendoza | 1 | 98+ (WA) |
In Bond
£229.00 |
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Wine Advocate (98+)The outstanding 2018 White Stones Chardonnay epitomizes the expression of the grape in the cooler-climate and high-altitude location of the Adrianna vineyard in Gualtallary. There is rectitude, austerity and elegance, a subtle wine with great clout and intensity that comes through as chiseled, focused, symmetric and pure, more in the style of Roulot than Coche-Dury, with superb integration of all the elements and fine minerality. This is more about the place and vintage than the grape, which feels like a good way to transmit the chalky soils of the selected plots. Simply superb, possibly the finest vintage for this bottling so far. 6,600 bottles were filled in May 2019. |
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