Catena Zapata Red Blend Nicolas Catena Zapata 2013 750ml

The 2013 Nicolás Catena Zapata is a blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% Malbec from the La Pirámide, Adrianna and Nicasia vineyards. It is perfectly clean and focused, a noticeable improvement over the 2012 vintage. The Cabernet Sauvignon from this cool vintage seems to have a more restrained character that made me think of Cabernet Franc, very classical and serious. They have been harvesting earlier and earlier in search of balance and freshness, and the strategy has definitely worked. It has great freshness and focus, and the lower alcohol and acidity seem to make the wine integrate the oak very nicely. This has to be one of the finest vintages of Nicolás Catena Zapata.

Founded in 1902, Bodega Catena Zapata has become revered by many as the pioneer of high-altitude wines and the re-emergence of the Malbec grape in Argentina. The Mayan-styled winery nestles in the foothills of the Andes at Agrelo. The Nicolás Catena Zapata is a blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% Malbec, sourced from La Pirámide (950m), Nicasia (1,095m) and Adrianna vineyards (1,450m), in Agrelo, Altamira and Gualtallary. It's aged for 18 months in French oak barrels. Paz Levinson: This has elegant aromas of cedar box, tobacco and earthy nuances. The wine has a medium body; it’s elegant, evident from its ageing. The Cabernet gives length and good acidity to the wine whilst the Malbec offers juicy plummy fruit. Peter Richards MW: There’s toasty aromas of roasted pepper and red and dark fruit. It has a lovely leafy complexity! Real freshness and lift here. The palate is fresh but tense, with lovely savoury complexity. It’s fundamentally a mid-weight wine - and so much the better for it: Long, precise, savoury and complex. This is not typically Argentina but brilliant stuff nonetheless, a lighter mezzo forte style. Love it! Dirceu Vianna Junior MW: There’s buckets of red and dark fruit still apparent despite its age. It also displays notes of dried herbs, chocolate, sweet spices and beautifully leafy notes. On the palate it combines ripe juicy and cedar with beautiful savoury notes finishing savoury and persistent.

Extremely polished and refined with blueberries, wet earth and dark chocolate. Tight and reserved. Medium to full body, fine and velvety tannins and a long and flavorful finish. This shows depth and beauty. Best bonarda in Argentina and shows the excitement of this grape varietal. Drink now.

Dark ruby-red. Pungent but classy aromas of cassis and blackberry are a bit inkier and more subdued than those of the Malbec Argentino. Very smooth, dry, savory and backward, with its tangy red and black fruit flavors complicated by minerals and hints of green and black pepper. Really bulletproof fruit here--and wonderfully energetic. Half of the fruit comes from the cool Adrianna vineyard in Gualtallary, where Cabernet Sauvignon--and Franc--do especially well, according to winemaker Alejandro Vigil. I'd wait at least a year or two to enjoy this wine, which has plenty of tannic spine for aging.

Generous oak is reflected via aromas of hickory and smoke on the nose of this lusty but refined blend of Cabernet and Malbec. In the mouth, rugged tannins and high acidity suggest further cellaring. Flavors of plum, berry, chocolate and tomato sauce finish with dry, pulling tannins and a sense of acidic freshness. Drink through 2027. (Cellar Selection)

Nicolás Catena Zapata has an intense, deep purple color with bluish-black tones. On the nose, aromas of black fruits – blackberries, black cherries, black plums – predominate with subtle notes of vanilla and dark chocolate intermingled with savory hints of green olive and a stony minerality. On the palate, the wine is tremendously complex, unfolding layer upon layer of red currant, eucalyptus, and black pepper flavors. Black cherries and blackberries give way to cassis followed by a hint of saline minerality. The wine is remarkably concentrated with a firm tannic structure providing the backbone for the lush fruit. The finish is long, a foretoken of the long aging potential of this Argentine masterpiece.