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Catena Zapata Malbec Adrianna Vineyard Mundus Bacillus Terrae 2016 750ml

size
750ml
country
Argentina
region
Cuyo
appellation
Mendoza
subappellation
Gualtallary
DC
97
WA
97
VM
96
JS
96
Additional vintages
DC
97
Rated 97 by Decanter
In one of the coldest vintages of the last 30 years in Mendoza, the Adrianna Vineyard plot (just 1.4 hectares) produced crisp, red fruit in 2016. With 100% whole-bunch fermentation, this feels lush, juicy and full. A mass of ripe fruits that fill the mouth with freshness and tension, marked by a penetrating and firm acidity. ... More details
Image of bottle
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Catena Zapata Malbec Adrianna Vineyard Mundus Bacillus Terrae 2016 750ml

SKU 884119
Case Only Purchase
Long-term Pre-Arrival
$750.21
/case
$250.07
/750ml bottle
Quantity
min order 3 bottles
* This is a Long-term Pre-arrival item and is available for online ordering only. This item will ship on a future date after a 4-8 months transfer time. For additional details about Pre-arrival Items please visit our FAQ page.
Professional Ratings
DC
97
WA
97
VM
96
JS
96
DC
97
Rated 97 by Decanter
In one of the coldest vintages of the last 30 years in Mendoza, the Adrianna Vineyard plot (just 1.4 hectares) produced crisp, red fruit in 2016. With 100% whole-bunch fermentation, this feels lush, juicy and full. A mass of ripe fruits that fill the mouth with freshness and tension, marked by a penetrating and firm acidity.
WA
97
Rated 97 by Wine Advocate
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.
VM
96
Rated 96 by Vinous Media
Saturated bright ruby. Aromas of brambly crushed blackberry and boysenberry, wild herbs and tropical bitter chocolate verge on exotic, but that's because this is one of Argentina's finest sites--and not just for Malbec. Thick and utterly seamless but with a weightless quality and razor-sharp definition that come from the limestone and calcaire-covered rock underneath a thin layer of marine deposits, not to mention the use of 50% whole clusters. Incredibly silky, concentrated wine with powerful saline minerality, a firm spine of mounting noble tannins and subtle chocolatey sweetness. Winemaker Alejandro Vigil describes this wine as "our purest Malbec expression for long aging." Adrianna was the first vineyard in Gualtallary, planted in 1992 and 1994 at a time when there was virtually no viticultural infrastructure here.
JS
96
Rated 96 by James Suckling
Aromas of violets, blueberries and black licorice follow through to a full body with tight and restrained tannins and a lively acidity. An energetic and youthful wine. Can age wonderfully but exciting to taste now.
Winery
Tight, high acidity, lots of tannins; ageability.
Product Details
size
750ml
country
Argentina
region
Cuyo
appellation
Mendoza
subappellation
Gualtallary
Additional vintages
Overview
In one of the coldest vintages of the last 30 years in Mendoza, the Adrianna Vineyard plot (just 1.4 hectares) produced crisp, red fruit in 2016. With 100% whole-bunch fermentation, this feels lush, juicy and full. A mass of ripe fruits that fill the mouth with freshness and tension, marked by a penetrating and firm acidity.
green grapes

Varietal: Malbec

Malbec grapes have a beautiful deep and dusty purple color, and can now be found growing in abundance in many different countries. They thrive most successfully in hot, dry southern climates, a long way from their home in native France. However, whilst many Old World wineries had and continue to have a lot of success with this flavorful grape, its susceptibility to rot and weakness against cold and damp meant that its usage began to dwindle in the countries such as France whilst it grew in the New. Malbec's thick skins lend it strong tannins, something which allows the wines produced from these grapes to hold their distinctive, astringent and full-bodied character. They also tend to be packed full of plummy, fleshy fruit-forward flavors, making them an interesting and complex grape for single variety wines, as well as an ideal grape for blending and aging.
barrel

Region: Cuyo

Undoubtedly the most important viticultural region of the country of Argentina is Cuyo, the arid and red-soiled area within central-west Argentina which produces over eighty percent of the nation's wine each year. Cuyo represents the finest aspects of Argentinian wine making, with wineries in the region celebrating their traditions which stretch back to the sacramental wines first introduced to the country by Spanish settlers hundreds of years ago. As with much of Argentina, Cuyo is most famous for the production of Malbec wines, with Malbec grapes thriving prodigiously in the hot climate of the region, reaching full ripeness in ways they rarely could in their native France, and producing wines of exceptional flavor and quality. The Desaguadero River is the key water source in this otherwise dry and dusty region, and successful irrigation projects have helped bring water to even the driest vineyards within Cuyo.
fields

Country: Argentina

Anyone who has been the Mendoza area of Argentina may be surprised to find that this is one of the primary wine regions of the country, now comfortably sitting as the fifth largest producer of wine in the world. The Mendoza is an incredibly dry and arid desert, which receives as little as two hundred millimeters of rainfall per year, and supports very little life at all. We can thank the ancient technologies of the Huarpes Indians for Argentina's current booming wine trade, as they managed to irrigate the region by digging channels from the Mendoza river, thus creating an area which had enough access to water with which to grow vines. Not only this, but the grape which Argentina primarily uses for their wines – Malbec – actually flourishes in such conditions, as it is less likely to suffer from the rot it so often finds in the considerably damper regions of Europe it has its origins in. Such expertise and foresight has resulted in Argentina being able to produce high quality wines of both red and white types, with Malbec, Bonarda and Cabernet Sauvignon dominating the vineyards for red wines, and Torrontés, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc making up for most of the white wine produced there.
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Winery Catena Zapata
green grapes

Varietal: Malbec

Malbec grapes have a beautiful deep and dusty purple color, and can now be found growing in abundance in many different countries. They thrive most successfully in hot, dry southern climates, a long way from their home in native France. However, whilst many Old World wineries had and continue to have a lot of success with this flavorful grape, its susceptibility to rot and weakness against cold and damp meant that its usage began to dwindle in the countries such as France whilst it grew in the New. Malbec's thick skins lend it strong tannins, something which allows the wines produced from these grapes to hold their distinctive, astringent and full-bodied character. They also tend to be packed full of plummy, fleshy fruit-forward flavors, making them an interesting and complex grape for single variety wines, as well as an ideal grape for blending and aging.
barrel

Region: Cuyo

Undoubtedly the most important viticultural region of the country of Argentina is Cuyo, the arid and red-soiled area within central-west Argentina which produces over eighty percent of the nation's wine each year. Cuyo represents the finest aspects of Argentinian wine making, with wineries in the region celebrating their traditions which stretch back to the sacramental wines first introduced to the country by Spanish settlers hundreds of years ago. As with much of Argentina, Cuyo is most famous for the production of Malbec wines, with Malbec grapes thriving prodigiously in the hot climate of the region, reaching full ripeness in ways they rarely could in their native France, and producing wines of exceptional flavor and quality. The Desaguadero River is the key water source in this otherwise dry and dusty region, and successful irrigation projects have helped bring water to even the driest vineyards within Cuyo.
fields

Country: Argentina

Anyone who has been the Mendoza area of Argentina may be surprised to find that this is one of the primary wine regions of the country, now comfortably sitting as the fifth largest producer of wine in the world. The Mendoza is an incredibly dry and arid desert, which receives as little as two hundred millimeters of rainfall per year, and supports very little life at all. We can thank the ancient technologies of the Huarpes Indians for Argentina's current booming wine trade, as they managed to irrigate the region by digging channels from the Mendoza river, thus creating an area which had enough access to water with which to grow vines. Not only this, but the grape which Argentina primarily uses for their wines – Malbec – actually flourishes in such conditions, as it is less likely to suffer from the rot it so often finds in the considerably damper regions of Europe it has its origins in. Such expertise and foresight has resulted in Argentina being able to produce high quality wines of both red and white types, with Malbec, Bonarda and Cabernet Sauvignon dominating the vineyards for red wines, and Torrontés, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc making up for most of the white wine produced there.