Chardonnay
⏳ Drinking Window
Typically best enjoyed 2–6 years from vintage release.
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
grilled sea bass, roasted chicken with herbs, creamy mushroom risotto
✨ Technical Specifications
Catena Zapata's exploration of Chardonnay is a landmark tale of pioneering spirit in South America. In the late 1980s, Nicolás Catena Zapata set out to challenge the wine world by proving that Mendoza's high-altitude terroirs could produce white wines of Burgundian elegance and complexity. Planting Chardonnay in the cool, high-altitude vineyards of Tupungato—at elevations exceeding 1,400 meters—was initially met with skepticism due to the extreme mountain chill. However, the intense alpine sunlight and dramatic diurnal temperature shifts yielded grapes with remarkable acid structure and concentrated stone fruit flavors. Fermented in French oak barrels with native yeasts, this Chardonnay beautifully marries vibrant mineral tension with a subtly creamy, textured finish, reflecting the unique stony soils of the Andean foothills.
🍾 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