Catena Alta Chardonnay
⏳ Drinking Window
Typically best enjoyed 3–8 years from the vintage release, though top vintages can develop beautifully for up to a decade.
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roasted chicken with herbs, pan-seared sea bass, creamy mushroom risotto
✨ Technical Specifications
Catena Alta Chardonnay is a landmark white wine that redefined Argentina's potential for premium white winemaking. Born from Nicolás Catena's quest to produce a white wine that could rival the great Burgundies of the world, this cuvée is sourced from select rows in the family's high-altitude estate vineyards, primarily the Adrianna Vineyard at almost 5,000 feet elevation and the Domingo Vineyard. The extreme altitude provides intense sunlight balanced by cool mountain nights, preserving vibrant acidity and developing complex aromatic profiles. The wine is fermented using wild yeasts in French oak barrels, where it undergoes partial malolactic fermentation and extensive lees stirring to build a rich, creamy texture that perfectly balances its piercing mineral spine.
🍾 About the Producer
Founded in 1902 by Italian immigrant Nicola Catena, Bodega Catena Zapata is the preeminent pioneer of modern Argentine viticulture. In the 1980s and 1990s, third-generation visionary Nicolás Catena Zapata revolutionized the domestic industry by venturing into extreme high-altitude Andean terroirs, most notably planting the famed Adrianna Vineyard in Gualtallary at nearly 1,500 meters above sea level. Today directed by Dr. Laura Catena and celebrated winemaking director Alejandro Vigil, the estate pairs rigorous micro-terroir research through the Catena Institute of Wine with precision viticulture across alluvial, limestone-laced gravel soils. Fermentations frequently incorporate whole clusters and indigenous yeasts, vinified in concrete, oak foudres, and French barriques to preserve freshness, structural nuance, and site-specific tension. Benchmark bottlings such as the flagship Nicolás Catena Zapata, Adrianna Vineyard Mundus Bacillus Terrae Malbec, and Adrianna Vineyard White Stones Chardonnay stand as global archetypes of high-elevation South American fine wine.
🍇 Grapes
Chardonnay
🍷 ABV
13-14%