Catena Zapata | Watson's Wine

The story of Catena

The story of Catena is more or less the story of Argentine wine. In 1902, Catena Family planted their first Malbec vineyard in Mendoza, after sailing from Italy to Argentina. When the third generation Nicolás Catena Zapata, who was honoured as Decanter’s Man of the Year 2009, began running the family winery in the 1960s, he drastically modernized the winemaking techniques, and pioneered the experiment on extremely high altitude vineyards on the Andes Mountains.

Adrianna Vineyard, at almost 5,000 feet elevation, shows an incredibly promising result. It is hailed as “South America’s Grand Cru Vineyard”, producing soft and velvety wines, with wonderful complexity and intense fruit flavours that had never been found before in Mendoza. Laura Catena, daughter of Nicolás, takes a further step to precisely define each parcel of the vineyard according to its unique terrior, crafting some of the most iconic wines in Argentina, including White Bones Chardonnay, River Stones and Fortuna Terrae Malbec. The Adrianna Vineyard is organically farmed and certified.

The story of Catena

The story of Catena is more or less the story of Argentine wine. In 1902, Catena Family planted their first Malbec vineyard in Mendoza, after sailing from Italy to Argentina. When the third generation Nicolás Catena Zapata, who was honoured as Decanter’s Man of the Year 2009, began running the family winery in the 1960s, he drastically modernized the winemaking techniques, and pioneered the experiment on extremely high altitude vineyards on the Andes Mountains.

Adrianna Vineyard, at almost 5,000 feet elevation, shows an incredibly promising result. It is hailed as “South America’s Grand Cru Vineyard”, producing soft and velvety wines, with wonderful complexity and intense fruit flavours that had never been found before in Mendoza. Laura Catena, daughter of Nicolás, takes a further step to precisely define each parcel of the vineyard according to its unique terrior, crafting some of the most iconic wines in Argentina, including White Bones Chardonnay, River Stones and Fortuna Terrae Malbec. The Adrianna Vineyard is organically farmed and certified.

Malbec Mon Amour

Laura Catena and Alejandro Vigil released their book “Malbec Mon Amour” in December 2021. The book tells the story about Argentina’s signature red grape. Reviewed by The New York Times, it is the first time a wine book becomes a best seller in Argentina. “Malbec Mon Amour” has already sold 10.000 copies and is printing its second edition.

Lifetime Achievment:

Dr. Nicolás Catena Zapata was the First South American Vintner to receive Wine Enthusiast’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the 22nd Annual Wine Star Awards held in Miami the past February. This prestigious industry event recognizes individuals and companies for their exceptional contributions to the success of the wine and beverage alcohol industry.

Lifetime Achievment:

Dr. Nicolás Catena Zapata was the First South American Vintner to receive Wine Enthusiast’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the 22nd Annual Wine Star Awards held in Miami the past February. This prestigious industry event recognizes individuals and companies for their exceptional contributions to the success of the wine and beverage alcohol industry.

The N°1 World's Most Admired Wine Brand

On April 1st, Drinks International announced that Catena Zapata was voted The World's Most Admired Wine Brand of 2020 by a group of wine industry experts from 48 different countries. The survey was conducted in association with Wine Intelligence. Previous winners include Torres, Penfolds, and Concha y Toro. The announcement, scheduled to be at ProWein Fair, was cancelled due to the spread of COVID-19. At a time when health is of the utmost priority, Catena Zapata connected via Zoom with customers and colleagues to offer encouragement to those in quarantine and propose a virtual toast to their health and to better times. Dr. Laura Catena, the winery's fourth generation says: "This award goes to all the great people who have worked at our family winery since 1902, to our region's beautiful vineyards, and to our fellow wine drinkers around the world.

Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard 100-point Collection

Nicolás Catena Zapata dared to plant vines where no one thought they would ripen. His high-altitude wine revolution culminated in the discovery of a new terroir for wine –the Adrianna Vineyard– located at almost 5,000 feet (1500 meters) elevation. Adrianna Vineyard is organically farmed, certified sustainable, and the focus of study of the Catena Institute of Wine (CIW) founded by Dr. Laura Catena, which is dedicated to elevating Mendoza as a wine region and preserving nature and culture. A team of researchers at the CIW continuously study every meter, every rock, every insect, and every microorganism in the Adrianna Vineyard, making it perhaps the most studied vineyard in the world.

The Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard 100-point Collection releases the three 100-point wines awarded by James Suckling: Adrianna Vineyard White Bones Chardonnay 2018, Adrianna Vineyard River Stones Malbec 2017, and the Adrianna Vineyard River Stones Malbec 2016 scored by The Wine Advocate, Robert Parker. These perfect scores validate the importance of studying terroir and has inspired experts to refer to Adrianna as South America’s Grand Cru vineyard. Catena Zapata has once again demonstrated its singularity by being the first to produce a 100-point white wine by James Suckling and the first to produce a 100-point red wine by The Wine Advocate, Robert Parker in the entire American continent.

Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard 100-point Collection

Nicolás Catena Zapata dared to plant vines where no one thought they would ripen. His high-altitude wine revolution culminated in the discovery of a new terroir for wine –the Adrianna Vineyard– located at almost 5,000 feet (1500 meters) elevation. Adrianna Vineyard is organically farmed, certified sustainable, and the focus of study of the Catena Institute of Wine (CIW) founded by Dr. Laura Catena, which is dedicated to elevating Mendoza as a wine region and preserving nature and culture. A team of researchers at the CIW continuously study every meter, every rock, every insect, and every microorganism in the Adrianna Vineyard, making it perhaps the most studied vineyard in the world.

The Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard 100-point Collection releases the three 100-point wines awarded by James Suckling: Adrianna Vineyard White Bones Chardonnay 2018, Adrianna Vineyard River Stones Malbec 2017, and the Adrianna Vineyard River Stones Malbec 2016 scored by The Wine Advocate, Robert Parker. These perfect scores validate the importance of studying terroir and has inspired experts to refer to Adrianna as South America’s Grand Cru vineyard. Catena Zapata has once again demonstrated its singularity by being the first to produce a 100-point white wine by James Suckling and the first to produce a 100-point red wine by The Wine Advocate, Robert Parker in the entire American continent.

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