2013 Bodega Catena Zapata Nicolas Catena Zapata 750 ml

Challenger to World’s Top Bordeaux-Style Reds

Argentina’s greatest wine, from Argentina’s greatest vintage in memory: If any wine can make a legitimate claim to that title, it’s the 2013 Nicolás Catena Zapata. The blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec is named after its creator, who envisioned an Argentinian challenger to the world’s greatest Bordeaux-style wines, and was validated almost immediately: The first vintage crushed Latour, Haut-Brion, Opus One, and Caymus Special Selection in a blind tasting judged by a panel led by the eminent Jancis Robinson. Since that day in 2001, the legend has only grown. Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate gave a stunning 96 points to the 2013 edition, saying it “has to be one of the finest vintages of Nicolás Catena Zapata.” No surprise, since the publication declares 2013 to be the most impressive Argentinian vintage they have ever rated. Named after a man with more winemaking awards and honors than are possible to list, this is not only South American wine at its very best — this is a wine that truly belongs among the world’s greats.

By the time Nicolás Catena Zapata decided to make a flagship wine in 1997, he had established the credibility to merit the world’s attention. He had already transformed his family’s century-old winery from yet another producer of nondescript table wine to the first exporter of fine Argentinian wine, a move that earned his country and its flagship grape, Malbec, their expanding place on the world wine map. He also pushed the boundaries of where Malbec could be grown, taking risks on the grape that his forebears had stubbornly believed could thrive in Argentina. In the process, Nicolás Catena Zapata discovered and planted what are regarded as some of the finest terroirs on the planet.

This wine is the product of those unparalleled places: La Pirámide, Nicasia, and Adrianna vineyards, which range in elevation from 3,000 feet to Adrianna’s nearly 5,000 feet — an altitude at which even Catena Zapata’s own vineyard manager doubted Cabernet and Malbec could ripen. Surrounded by alpine trees and dramatic, sawtoothed mountain views, Adrianna Vineyard results in such remarkable grapes that the winery calls it “the most-studied vineyard in the world.” With Bodega Catena Zapata’s Adrianna Vineyard Malbecs earning 95-98 points from Wine Advocate in each of the last 12 vintages, it is without a doubt one of the greatest.

The fruit in the 2013 Nicolás Catena Zapata is treated as reverentially after harvest as it is on the vine. Whole clusters (10%) and whole berries (90%) are barrel-fermented at a low temperature. The wine is then aged for 24 months in new French oak and another 24 months in-bottle before release. The wine still impresses just as thoroughly as it did when the first vintage wowed Jancis Robinson — but by now, no one is surprised. The 2013 Nicolás Catena Zapata received top billing in Decanter’s 2017 feature titled “Fine Wines to Know from Chile and Argentina,” but if anything, that praise is too modest. Nicolás Catena Zapata has proven that it is as much of a cellar essential as First-Growth Bordeaux or Opus One.

Jonathan Cristaldi

Editor-in-Chief, Wine Access