Malbec Argentino
⏳ Drinking Window
Typically best enjoyed 5–20 years from vintage release.
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Grilled ribeye steak, slow-roasted lamb shoulder, rich venison stew
✨ Technical Specifications
Catena Zapata's Malbec Argentino is a liquid chronicle of the Malbec grape's historical journey. The wine's striking label pays homage to this heritage through four symbolic women: Eleanor of Aquitaine, representing the grape's medieval cradle in Cahors; the Immigrant, symbolizing the pioneers who brought the variety to the New World; Phylloxera, representing the devastating pestilence that decimated European vineyards; and Adrianna Catena, representing the modern rebirth of Malbec in the extreme high-altitude terroirs of Mendoza. Sourced from the historic, ungrafted old vines of the Nicasia and Ang lica vineyards, this monumental red is micro-fermented in French oak barrels and aged to achieve a profound complexity, offering an intense expression of dark fruit, violet aromatics, and deep mineral undertones.
🍾 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
Malbec
🍷 ABV
13.5-14.5%