Catena Zapata - Nicolás Catena Zapata 2020

Druvor

Cabernet sauvignon & malbec.

Tasting note

2020 was a very dry and low-yielding year, with 20% to 30% less crop, and the grapes were picked early. The 2020 Nicolás Catena Zapata was produced with a blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Cabernet Franc and 21% Malbec, higher in Franc than ever, for the first time more than Malbec, to compensate the warm and dry conditions. The wine is ripe and very peppery, with 13.9% alcohol and a pH of 3.64. It matured in new and second-use French oak barrels for 18 months. It was a healthy crop with concentration and ripeness, and the wine comes through as powerful and quite classical, still a little oaky, with power and balance. 60,000 bottles were filled in January 2020.

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

WINE DESCRIPTION

With its inaugural 1997 vintage, Nicolás Catena Zapata 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. Prephylloxeric Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon massale selections of ungrafted vines give rise to this wine, opening a window to the past from the mountain vineyards of Mendoza, Argentina. 

NICOLÁS CATENA ZAPATA CRUS

Adrianna cru

•  Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec 
•  Gualtallary, Uco Valley
•  Calcareous soil with gravels
•  7 Hectares
•  Planted in 1992
•  Altitude: 1450 meters a.s.l

Nicasia cru

•  Malbec 
•  Paraje Altamira, Uco Valley
•  Large gravel mixed with sand and loam
•  9 Hectares
•  Planted in 1996
•  Altitude: 1095 meters a.s.l

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

• Wine Director: Alejandro Vigil
• Winemaker: Fernando Buscema
• Varietal: 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Malbec
• Alcohol: 13.90%
• Total Acidity: 5.8 grams/liter
• pH: 3.72
• Unfined and unfiltered.

VINIFICATION

The harvest is done by hand, and some parcels are fermented as whole bunches to enhance tannic structure and freshness. The fermentation takes place in 500 liter oak barrels, concrete and stainless-steel tanks, at temperatures of 26-28ºC for about 10-15 days. The post-fermentative maceration lasts between 5 and 10 days.

The wine carries out its malolactic fermentation and is then aged in French oak barrels for 18 months.