THE PRODUCER
Catena was founded in 1902, in Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, yet the company’s modern
history starts in the late 1960s, when Nicolas Catena joins his father and
grandfather. The first vintage made by Nicolas was the 1990 – inspired by
Bordeaux and Napa Valley – and was a Cabernet Sauvignon blended with a little
Malbec and from the winery’s best barrels.

Nicolas’ vision from the start was to make rich and unique wines that were true
to the terroir they come from, while continually seeking out new and better
vineyards for Malbec, on his way being one of the pioneers in discovering
extreme high-altitude terroirs in Andean foothills of Mendoza. Nicolas’ daughter
Laura Catena has done several studies with the Catena Institute which has shown
that higher altitude wines had significantly higher levels of tannins (likely
developed by the vines to shield the seeds from the sun).

The winemaking style is Californian-French with a focus on fresh fruit flavours
and added complexity by use of traditional French oak barrels. The Adrianna
vineyard is Catena’s most famous and named after Nicolas’ youngest daughter.
Located in the district of Gualtallary within the region of Tupungato at almost
1,500 feet elevation, it was planted in 1992 and has alluvial gravelly soil with
limestone topsoil.

Larry Stone from the James Beard Foundation trustee says of Nicolas Catena: “he
is a figure of Argentina of the stature of Robert Mondavi in Napa and Angelo
Gaja in Piedmont. He inspired an entire region to strive for higher quality by
his successful exploration of high-altitude vineyards.”

Catena Zapata focuses mainly on very quality Malbec including several special
cuvees from individual vineyards. They also produce a superb Cabernet Malbec
blend as well as some excellent Chardonnay. In short Catena Zapata has an
astonishing range of individual vineyards worthy of consideration within their
holdings.

THE WINE

The “River Stones” Cuvee takes its name from a small 2.6-hectare parcel of the
Adrianna vineyard which – at 1,366 meters elevation – is the site of an ancient
riverbed and covered in white stones.  Fermentation takes place in oak barriques
and is followed by ageing for 20 months in barrel. An extremely aromatic, pure
and red berry/floral scented wine, with smooth tannins, and long velvety
texture.

INFORMATION
Type:RedVintage:2017Country:ArgentinaRegion:MendozaSub region:Gualtallary, Uco
ValleyGrape:MalbecStyle:Bold and StructuredSweetness:DryABV:14%Drinking window:
2019 - 2032Size:750mlFood match:Beef and Venison


CRITICS SCORES
We choose our wines based on a range of criteria(seehow we choose our wines)of
which critic scores is justone. Rather than simply highlight the best score to
promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided
by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do
not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more
weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores
like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a92/100average critic score or
better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a
high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we
offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the
market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and
representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide
to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add
individual critic scores to our website in the future.