Alta Malbec
2018
At heart, Catena is a story about family. Family who poured their lives, passion, and spirit into transforming scrub-laden desert into some of the most beautiful and unique vineyards in the world. Family that passed their knowledge from generation to generation, blending collective memory with state-of-the-art science from the new world of viticulture. Family who, through risk-taking, faith, and a little luck, transformed their treasured Mendoza terroir into the fountainhead of the...
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Catena Alta is an assemblage of historic rows within the Catena family Estate vineyards. The blend of these historic rows, like the marriage of sounds that create a symphony, yields a highly aromatic and elegant wine that speaks for the earth and the vines that have been tended by the Catenas for four generations. The Catena Alta wines can usually be drunk starting at three years after harvest and into the following one to two decades.
Vineyard lots are harvested at different times to ensure optimal natural acidity and moderate alcohol levels. Whole berries are hand loaded into small format fermentation bins and 225-500 L barrels; lots from each vineyard are treated individually; fermentation and maceration last for 28-30 days; cold maceration. Wild yeasts. Alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in barrel; wine undergoes active battonage to protect it and drastically reduce the amount of SO2 needed. Aged for 18 months in French oak.
Catena Alta Malbec is deep violet in colour with indigo highlights. The nose has aromas of ripe red and blackberry fruits with notes of violets and lavender and hints of leather and a touch of spices. The wine is full-bodied and rich, with sweet tannins and a smooth structure, offering multiple layers of blackberries and black currant with hints of licorice, vanilla and black pepper.
Beautiful blackberries and green tea with some blueberries. Medium body with beautiful balance, freshness and whole-berry sensibility and brightness. Subtle and sophisticated. Drink or hold.
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The transparency to this malbec draws you in with the blackberry, blueberry and walnut undertones. Medium-bodied, very linear and tight with cool fruit and then a dry and bright finish.
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Fresh blue fruit with dried herbs, ripe stems and white pepper. Very juicy, fresh and fine-grained on the palate with a medium body and a crunchy, fluid finish. Quite long
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Racy berries, cherries and touches of white pepper and tamarind. Very juicy and fluid, with fine-grained tannins and a mouthwatering finish. Long, succulent and very poised
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Maipú, Luján de Cuyo and the Uco Valley are the joint sources for this sizeable blend. Richly oaked, aromatic and intense, it’s a Malbec lover’s Mendoza Malbec with violet, liquorice and blackberry flavours and succulent tannins.
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Ripe and racy fruit full of dried strawberries, cherries and some sweet spices. Juicy and generous on the medium-bodied palate with some sappy, sweet fruit. Firm but approachable.
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The 2020 Malbec Catena Alta is a combination of grapes from specific historic lots in Luján de Cuyo and the Uco Valley and was aged for up to 18 months in new and used barrels. Purple in the glass. The complex nose presents notes of ripe plum with hints of spice, cedar and refined woody flavors along with a hint of jam. Indulgent and broad with a lean feel and expansive flow, the precise freshness and grippy tannins lend solidity to the palate.
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The perfumed and floral 2020 Catena Alta Malbec is serious and keeps the balance and poise in this warm and challenging year of the pandemic. It's ripe without excess at 13.8% alcohol and has mellow acidity, coming through as serious and balanced in the palate, with abundant, fine-grained tannins and a tasty and long finish. It's a serious Malbec that overdelivers for the conditions of the year. 165,600 bottles produced.
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Historic Rows hails from five different Mendoza sub-regions - Agrelo, Gualtallary, Lunlunta, Paraje Altamira and San Carlos - and is very much the quintessential Argentinian Malbec. Deeply coloured, intense and ripe, with supple, palate-caressing tannins, scented oak and aniseed and blackberry flavours.
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Well-structured, with a fine-grained texture to the lively mix of dried red berry and spice flavors. Slate and floral hints on the crisp finish.
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A Malbec from Mendoza made from a selection of parcels in different terroirs in Primera Zona and the Uco Valley that spent 18 months in French oak, this is complexity in a bottle. The ripe, layered, evolving nose delivers plum and violet notes followed by a hint of acidic cherry over a woody backdrop. Fleshy on the palate, it offers the good grip and volume typical of Malbec as part of a satisfying combination that also includes a terse texture and juicy freshness.
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Catena Alta is an assemblage of historical rows of the Catena Zapata vineyards planted to the Catena family's proprietary selection of malbec plants from 900-1400m. The 5 blocks yield highly aromatic and elegant wine that speaks to four generations of winegrowers. The wine spends 18 months in 70 percent new oak and another 24 months in bottle before release. It's malbec at a comfortable 13.8%, finished unfined and unfiltered. 2019 was a cool year, and the yields were lower than average, leading to excellent acidity and concentrated flavours. Look for violet with hints of blueberry and the classic savoury jarilla characters. On the palate you'll find red and blue fruit with substantial mid-palate weight and rich tannins. This wine will age over the next five years.
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