Malbec Old Vines
2021
Laura Catena, daughter of famous Argentine wine pioneer, Nicolas Catena, was born in Buenos Aires. At the age of 14, her family moved to Berkeley, California where her father had taken a teaching position in the Economics Department. Laura went on to attend Harvard University, where she graduated magna cum laude in biology, and then she returned to the west coast, to Stanford University, to pursue a medical degree graduating in 1992. Today, Laura Catena is a practicing emergency-room physician....
Lots of mountain herbs, mussel shells and sour black cherries. Full, fleshy and fresh on the palate with fine, silty tannins and a juicy, rather minerally finish. Long and tight but caressing and pretty transparent and tactile on the palate.
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The 2020 Malbec Old Vine (from La Consulta, Paraje Altamira and Pampa El Cepillo, Uco Valley) was aged for 14 months in 35% new French barrels. Purple in the glass. The nose offers fresh plum notes even in a warm year with hints of blackberry jam and touches of oak and cedar. Indulgent and expansive on the palate with a lactic, languorous flow, the freshness is precise and the flavors linger long during the rich, fruity finish. A well-made, old school wine.
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Dr. Laura Catena sources grapes from old vineyards in the Uco Valley for this fruit-focused and silky-textured Malbec. It boasts flavors of blackberry, mulberry and plum backed by fine tannins. A whisper of dried herbs and spices adds more layers to the palate.
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This is from a selection of three old vineyards—Altamira, El Cepillo, and Tupungato—all in Uco and all planted more than 60 years ago in the lower part of that valley. The vines are furrow-irrigated, the traditional method before drip irrigation was introduced in the early 1990s. With a year of aging in 35% new barrels, this wine offers a dense layer of red fruit and spices. There are flowers, too, but it’s mostly the fruity flavors and aromas that expand vibrantly across the palate. Juicy and intense, this is a wine for the cellar.
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