Catena Zapata: these two words have held a magical spell over me since 2006 when I came to visit Sarah as she was doing pre-dissertation field work. We went out to eat one night at a lovely Italian restaurant in Palermo called La Baita on the corner of Thames and Honduras. We ate salads, homemade pastas, had an incredible frozen mascarpone dessert with fresh berries and a wine called D.V. Catena. It was a Malbec-Malbec blend and it was from 2002.
Ever since that night, I have been searching for another glass of D.V. Catena. I have not been able to find it anywhere in the U.S. When we decided to go to Mendoza, I told Sarah and Tara that I wanted to go to Catena Zapata, no matter what. Fortunately, we were able to get a reservation for a tour. This bodega requires them. Our tour was on Tuesday, April 15.
The vineyard is 30 or so minutes south of Mendoza and the views of the Andes were jaw-dropping. Catena Zapata makes great wine and they know it. And we came to know that they know it by suffering through one of their tours. We were a few minutes late and as we walked in the door, they ushered us into a room where a film was playing. It was a short film about the mastery and tradition that Catena Zapata embodies and thus recreates with all of its wine. I say that it was a film, when in actuality, a commercial is a better descriptor of the reel, and when it was finished I had the unmistakable feeling that what they wanted to get across to all of their visitors was the sentiment, “You are lucky to be here, because we are the best!”
When the lights came on the tour guides built upon this aura of greatness by walking us through a room of oak barrels – 70% French and 30% American – that cost 800 Euros each. We were then informed that all of Catena’s premium wines spend no more than 1 year in each barrel and so if the wine requires 4 years of aging, it will age in four different and new barrels.
Next we were shown the stainless steel tanks where the wine is fermented. We were taken up on a catwalk that allowed us to look down into the tanks. We happened to be there at a time when they were pumping some wine from the bottom of the tank and spraying it back into the top of the tank to break through “the skin”, the collection of grapes skins and seeds that collects on the top of the wine in the tanks during the fermentation process. It was all using the latest technology and the guide was sure to emphasize this point. Catena Zapata had the biggest stainless steel tanks, they had the best oak barrels that cost the most, they used the latest technology and this is what made their wine the best!
We were then led to the roof of one of the main building where we had an unbelievable view of the Andes. And like that, the tour was over and we were led to the tasting room which was very sparse, only 4 tables with 4 chairs each. I think we were given one glass of red Malbec from the Los Alamos line, and if we wanted to try another line, we would have to pay.
It seemed obvious to me that the style and structure and rhetoric of this wine tour at Catena Zapata was this vineyard’s way of saying, “Bodegas like Famiilia Zuccardi are crap. We think we are better. We have been here longer. We have been doing it better. We have better wine. We have better equipment. Hands down, we make better wine. And we snub our noses at them.” Normally, I would have thought, enough with the arrogance, it is time to leave. But both Sarah and I had tasted the D.V. Catena line of wine, which we learned during the tour was only sold to the domestic Argentine market. We wanted Tara to be able to enjoy what we have always felt to be a very good Malbec wine. So we decided to stay and pay for a tasting of another line of only available in the domestic market, the Angelica Zapata line.
One interesting bit of wine making that we learned at Catena Zapata was the fact that they (and we later learned many other large wineries have and do) have numerous vineyards around the entire Mendoza region, and they combine the grapes from these different locals to make a bottle of wine. So the Malbec Los Alamos will not be a bottle of Malbec from one specific area of vines, but a blending of Malbec grapes from many different vine locations. What Catena does that many others seem to be imitating is taking Malbec grapes that are grown at high altitude and blending them with Malbec grapes from lower altitudes in order to arrive at a richer complexity. They do this with other grapes as well, Malbec was just an example. This is also why their D.V. Catena label says Malbec – Malbec, because the grapes came from different altitudes. It is worth noting though that the grapes are fermented with other grapes from the same vine locations and are only blended and combined after the fermentation and aging processes have been completed.
Our notes on the Angelica Zapata line are below. While we thought the arrogance of Catena Zapata was funny and slightly annoying, we still agreed that the grounds were beautiful, their wine making process informative and the wine quite rich in its complexity.
The Angelica Zapata Tasting
Merlot Alta 2003Paul: dark, earthy bouquet. I sense chocolate and some spice. Dry, tannin, full body, subtle attack.
Sarah: hmm…mmmm…wonderful. Dry, tannin, earthy, cinnamony aroma, dark chocolate after taste. Aroma fuller than taste. Warm start, dry finish.
Cabernet Franc Alta 2002Paul: lighter, dark aromas but fruiter and not too chocolatey. Fewer Tannins, dries top of tongue, not sides, round.
Tara says velvety.
Sarah: troubling aroma, sharper, cherry, round beginning, little bit of berries, dry finish on the top of the tongue.
Malbec Alta 2003Paul: rich aroma, earthy, complex bouquet, slight tannin, more round in the middle, full and round; glugable – easiest to drink.
Sarah: smokey, leather, deep rich purple coloring, super smooth, intense berries, not a lot of tannins, sweet finish.
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