Bodega Catena Zapata, Malbec, Lunlunta
Mendoza, Argentina 2014 (750mL)
Regular price$22.00
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Bodega Catena Zapata, Malbec, Lunlunta
Count us among the many wine professionals who’ve been charmed (and schooled) by the Argentine wine evangelist Dr. Laura Catena. A Harvard- and Stanford-trained biologist who splits her time between San Francisco and Mendoza, we didn’t so much sit down to lunch with her as buckle in—for a free-wheeling conversation that ranged from soil microbes to the late-19th century Italian diaspora that brought her great-grandfather (and millions of other Italians) to Argentina.
In addition to being highly entertaining, our lunch with Laura gave us a deeper appreciation and understanding of this wine: Catena’s 2014 Malbec from Lunlunta, a sub-zone of the broader Mendoza appellation. Deep, dark, and polished, this red is a reminder of why Argentine Malbec has become such a sensation in the US—you get a lot of wine for the money. Yet while much Argentine Malbec is reliably rich, well-oaked, but otherwise not especially evocative, this one had an earthy complexity that really stood out for us. It’s a New World red with and Old World charm.
The 2014 Lunlunta is characteristically deep-hued: a rich violet purple core moving to dark purple at the rim. Aromas of black cherry, black currant, and a hint of blueberry are entwined with more savory notes of cacao, coffee, potting soil, dried leaves, lavender, and very light touch of roasted meat. Medium-plus in body, with supple tannins and a well-moderated oak influence (it spent a year aging in French oak barriques and 10 months in bottle before release), the earthy, somewhat smoky savor of the wine carries through to the finish. It was this slightly savory ‘animal’ quality that intrigued us: so much Malbec in this price tier is squeaky clean and buffed to a high, oaky gloss; this one shows some soil character and complexity without sacrificing fruit concentration. It is a drink-now style, opening up nicely after about 30 minutes in a decanter; serve it in large Bordeaux stems at 60-65 degrees with a well-charred, thick-cut steak served medium rare. For a classic take, add chimichurri as they would in Argentina; this recipe from Saveur nails it. Or enjoy it on its own on a cold evening sometime soon—as we continue to weather biblical winter rains here in Northern California, I may be popping one sooner rather than later!
In addition to being highly entertaining, our lunch with Laura gave us a deeper appreciation and understanding of this wine: Catena’s 2014 Malbec from Lunlunta, a sub-zone of the broader Mendoza appellation. Deep, dark, and polished, this red is a reminder of why Argentine Malbec has become such a sensation in the US—you get a lot of wine for the money. Yet while much Argentine Malbec is reliably rich, well-oaked, but otherwise not especially evocative, this one had an earthy complexity that really stood out for us. It’s a New World red with and Old World charm.
In the wake of the phylloxera epidemic of the late-1800s, vintners in Bordeaux basically abandoned Malbec, which had traditionally been part of the Bordeaux blend. Like Cabernet, Malbec ripens late, but unlike Cabernet, it’s a little more fragile, so it wasn’t exactly perfect for Bordeaux’s cooler, wetter autumns to begin with. And around the same time Malbec was disappearing from Bordeaux (as it was widely replaced by Merlot), it turned up—along with that first big wave of European immigrants—in Argentina. In 1898, Laura’s great-grandfather, Nicola Catena, arrived from Italy’s Marche region; in 1902 he planted his first Malbec vineyard in Mendoza, near the Tunuyan River.
The Mendoza region, in the shadow of the Andes in Western Argentina (the city of Mendoza, at an elevation of 2,500 feet, lies almost due east of Santiago, Chile), is one of the world’s most dramatic evocations of the French concept of “terroir.” As we’ve noted before, terroir isn’t just soil—it’s the “total natural environment” of a vine, from elevation to microclimate to vineyard orientation and more. Mendoza is a high plateau with vineyard elevations ranging from 2,600-5,000 feet, making it some of the highest-elevation viticulture in the world, and the soils are predominantly alluvial deposits of sand and gravel from the many rivers that flow down from the Andes.
What you get with Argentine Malbec is a wine of extremes: extreme altitude, which leads to extreme sunlight intensity, which leads to grapes developing thicker skins and more abundant tannins. There are also extreme diurnal temperature shifts—from desert-like heat in the daytime to Andes-influenced cold at night—that preserve acids and prevent grapes from becoming overripe and cooked. You see this in Catena’s 2014: it’s got serious concentration without undue sweetness, and tannins that are ripe, not rough.
