Zapata Malbec Nicasia 2020

CATENA

Zapata Malbec Nicasia
2020

  • Sustainable
Country
Argentina
Regulated designation
Dénomination origine (DOC)
Region
Mendoza
Varietal(s)
Malbec 100 %
Colour
Red
Sugar
Dry
Producer's website

About this winery

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 award-winning...

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Product notes

Located in the far southerly growing region of Altamira en La Consulta, the Nicasia vineyard is the only planting of the special Catena Selection of Malbec cuttings in this traditional area for Malbec. La Consulta was Nicolás Catena’s father Domingo’s prefered Malbec location.

Press reviews

Decanter World Wine Awards

- 97 points -

2021 (Vintage 2019)

Few red wines can rival grand Argentinian Malbec for drama and grandeur, and this version from the Altamira zone of La Consulta (in the Uco Valley) stood out even amongst its dramatic, strikingly profiled peers. It is jet black, just shot with purple at the rim. Soaringly expressive Malbec rose and tea leaf lifts from the glass with enviable purity, without a trace of distorting oak. In the mouth, it is deep and long: an arrow of fruit yet elegant, deftly textured with a snow of fine tannins, and devoid of alcoholic heat or intrusive, strenuous acidity. A sumptuous, haute-couture Malbec where the vineyard’s untrammeled fruit and inner radiance has been given voice.
 

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James Suckling

- 97 points -

August 2023 (Vintage 2020)

A mixture of black and blue fruit, very perfumed and elegant. Cherries, plums and blueberries with a peppery undertone. Crushed violets, too. Bone-dry on the palate with abundant, silky tannins and a juicy, lengthy finish.

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Vinous

- 96 points -

October 2020

The Nicasia Vineyard is located in Paraje Altamira and was planted in 1996. The grapes are from Lot 1 and fermented in foudres with whole bunches, then aged for 24 months in French barrels before being kept for a further 24 months. The involved process explains its charm. A perfumed red with a nose of herbal and lavender notes at first followed by sage and violet as part of a reductive approach that gives way to no-nonsense sour cherry. In the mouth, it delivers everything you could want: juicy and expressive, gentle but powerful with hints of chalk wrapped in a slightly fleshy feel and enlivened by just enough acid. A finely tuned mechanism full of fascinatingly subtle gears and clockwork.

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James Suckling

- 96 points -

June 2021

This is rich and decadent with crushed berries, light chocolate, meat and blueberries. Full body, polished and chewy tannins and an extremely long, flavourful finish. Fresh and beautiful. Love the coolness to the flavours here.

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Wine Advocate

- 96 points -

November 2022 (Vintage 2020)

The juicy and peachy 2020 Malbec Catena Zapata Nicasia Vineyard in Paraje Altamira is the result of a warm year in a warmish place, but the wine shows no excess and comes through as balanced, slightly riper and rounder than the 2019 I tasted next to it but keeping the poise and elegance. It has a medium to full-bodied palate with juicy and abundant tannins.

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Vinous

- 96 points -

September 2022 (Vintage 2020)

The 2020 Malbec Catena Zapata Nicasia Vineyard was fermented in barrels, 10% with stems and finished in used foudres. Purple in color. The nose offers notes of violet, lavender, plum and hints of sour cherry followed by aromas from the aging process which enhance the next wave of mint and orange peel. Fluid with gentle, well-polished tannins and a delicate expression, the flow is juicy and expansive before the languorous finish. A well-made wine for 2020.

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James Suckling

- 95 points -

May 2022 (Vintage 2019)

Intense nose of blackberries, dark plums, stones, tar, tea leaves and licorice. Full-bodied with firm, focused tannins. Compact and precise. Mineral yet caressing finish. Give this time. A little viognier co-fermented with malbec. Best after 2024.

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Descorchados

- 94 points -

January 2022 (Vintage 2019)

In the mid-1990s, Catena began exploring the Uco Valley and interpreting it through malbec. To do this, they used massal selections from its historic Angélica Vineyard, planted in the 1920s on the alluvial terraces of the Mendoza River. Nicasia, in Altamira, comes from that selection and this is their most ambitious wine, which is, in turn, another even more specific selection from certain rows of Lot 1, which yields the most concentrated fruit for a wine of the stature that Nicasia aims for. You'll need to be patient here. In the beginning, it's just a compact block of ripe fruit, but it slowly opens toward notes of flowers and spices that finally evolve into an irresistible nose. The palate is firm in tannins, but with that sweetness of the malbec that makes it very approachable, leaving a juicy sensation. A wine for a long period in the cellar.

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Wine Spectator

- 93 points -

October 2022 (Vintage 2019)

Offers an alluring entry of loam, wood spice and fresh thyme, while the palate is fresh and enlivened by mineral acidity. Rich and full, with flavors of mocha-accented blackberry and plum that linger nicely around velvety tannins. Drink now through 2032. 950 cases made, 200 cases imported.

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