La Savante
2020
Armed with the vision of elevating Catena and Argentine wines to stand with the best in the world, Catena’s high standard of excellence has brought them much acclaim over the years, for their wines and for their work. Most recently, Nicolás Catena Zapata was the recipient of Wine Enthusiast’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021, while his daughter Laura Catena, fourth generation vintner, as well as physician and author, has been called “the face of Argentine wine” and was awarded 2022...
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“The scholar” in the feminine, pays homage to scholarly women, who can be feminine and serious at the same time, like this wine.
Red-mineral fruit, with slight reduction and a touch of citrus. Orange peel. Earthy character. High Acidity and low alcohol content. Vertical wine. Layered tannins.
A touch of grilled oranges and moss to the red berries, minerals and chalk. Juicy and mouthwatering on the palate with a bright, acid-driven mid-palate and a mineral-coated texture. Super fresh, energetic and bright. Nimble, fragile and vulnerable. Extremely long, but subtle.
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Structured on the palate with a hint of reductive, white sesame note to the red cherries, raspberries, undergrowth, grapefruit zest and a hint of wet stones. Really firm, fine tannins linger in the lengthy finish. Nuanced and long. Drink or hold.
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This is a delicate version of pinot noir. Made with 50% whole clusters and 12 months of aging in barrels, 10% of them new oak, it offers tart red fruits and herbal notes. The palate is tense and marked by sharp and penetrating tannins, very much in tune with the calcareous soils that are common in Gualtallary and that tend to give that chalky sensation on the palate. The acidity is fresh and crisp. A pinot noir of tension. Savante comes from a vineyard about 100 meters higher than Histoire D'A, still in the Adrianna vineyard in Gualtallary. It's a 1.45 hectare parcel planted in 1994 on calcareous soils, about 1,450 meters high.
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The 2020 La Savante Pinot Noir was produced with fruit from the vineyard called El Mirador, 1.45 hectares planted in 1994 with Pinot Noir clones 115 and 777 in the monastery part of Gualtallary at 1,450 meters in altitude; the vineyard is certified organic. 2020 was a warmer year, and the wine shows it when you taste it next to the 2021, which is cooler. This is a little rounder, with 13.5% alcohol and mellow acidity, with more cherry than flowers, tasty and juicy. It finishes dry and chalky. 5,953 bottles produced. It was bottled in December 2019.
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Wild smoky raspberries, brambleberries and oyster shells on the nose. Medium-bodied with vibrant acidity and taut, mineral character. Tense and elegant with a fine frame of tannins. Tightly wound.
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La Savante is a wonderful expression of Pinot Noir from Roy Urvieta, who knows how to tease the best out of this demanding variety in the high-altitude terroir of Gualtallary. Pairing the 115 and 777 clones, it’s an ethereal, complex, sweetly fruited wine with notes of forest floor and umami and layers of raspberry and red cherry.
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La Savante, or “The scholar” in the feminine, pays homage to scholarly women, for whom Laura Catena may be the best model. One can be severe and feminine simultaneously, like this wine. This Gualtallary, Tupungato, Uco Valley pinot sits 1450 metres above sea level on loose, sandy, loam soil over compact calcium carbonate. Finally, all that sits over 90% boulder debris with dispersed calcium carbonate. Minerality is a strong theme here, along with forest floor, mushrooms, and ample Burgundian character. Citrus and orange peel thread through a low alcohol, high acid pinot for aficionados.
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The 2021 La Savante Pinot Noir was produced with grapes from a plot in Adrianna Vineyard in Gualtallary at some 1,450 meters in altitude, a pure limestone plot between two small hills that is shadowed in the afternoon (similar to that from White Bones); so, it's a cooler place that delivers moderate alcohol (13%) and very good freshness (it has a pH of 3.42). It's varietal, aromatic and very clean, with good precision and a fine thread in the palate. 5,640 bottles were filled in August 2022.
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