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Catena Zapata releases 2021 vintage on La Place
Argentine winery Catena Zapata has released its latest vintages of Nicolás Catena Zapata and Adrianna Mundus Bacillus Terrae through La Place de Bordeaux today.
The 2021 vintage is the seventh release through La Place for Catena Zapata and one that has been widely acclaimed, on the back of a strong growing season for Cabernet Sauvignon in high altitude Mendoza.
Db’s Colin Hay, called the Nicolás Catena Zapata 2021 “imposing and impressive”, with “chewy fine-grained by gripping tannins”, but noted that it was “less accessible perhaps at this stage than previous vintages”, awarding it 95 points. Meanwhile James Suckling awarded it 97 points, calling it “really refined and juicy on the palate with lot of fine tannins” and likely to “hold like this for a long time”.
The winery has also given the Nicolás Catena Zapata new labels designed to “capture the essence of a revolution”, and the resurrection of the original Bordeaux blend and its ungrafted, massal-selected vines.
The wine, is comprised 46% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Adrianna vineyard in Gualtallary, 1,400 meters above sea level, along with 44% malbec and 10% cabernet franc from the Nicasia vineyard.
“The label’s striking design is a manifesto, symbolising the transformative journey of Argentinian wine, and for the first time we are using a wax seal to honour the pre-phylloxera origins of our vines,” the estate said.
Meanwhile, the “truly excellent” Adrianna Vineyard Mundus Bacillus Terrae, which Hay awarded 97 points, had “significant ageing potential”. Wine critic Jane Anson, who awarded it 100 points, said that it “rewrites the perception of Argentinian Malbec”, by putting “the texture and the grip back to its heart, along with a vivid brightness of fruit”.
Patricio Tapia of South American wine guide Descorchados said that the cool 2021 season had “only exacerbated the tense and energetic character of this wine, one of the best in a vintage that has been excellent in Mendoza”. He also noted that this was the first time this particular wine hadn’t been aged in barrels or oak, but rather in concrete tanks.”
Perfect ripeness
It was undoubtedly a great year for cabernet Sauvignon in high altitude Mendoza, starting with a dry spring, followed by a humid summer that saw cooler temperature in the Uco valley, with “sporadic rains kept the vines happy”, the company said. As a result, the harvest for Malbec was early, and saw “perfect phenolic ripeness and acidity”, while the Cabernet Sauvignon had “beautiful fresh fruit, optimal acidity and relatively low alcohol”, which saw longer macerations likely to yield wines “of elegance, longitude, texture, and perfect balance”.
The company noted that these scores took its overall total of 100-point wines to 14, which is said made it the most-awarded vineyard in South America.
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