2017 Bodega Catena Zapata Cabernet Sauvignon Catena Alta Historic Rows

Community Tasting Notes (3) Avg Score: 88.8 points

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  4/6/2022 - hkfreefree wrote:

  Colour: medium dark red
  
  nose: medium low green pepper, leathery, plums
  palate: medium tannin, almost off dry, medium body
  finish: medium finish, fairly balanced

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  12/4/2021 - forceberry wrote: 87 Points

  A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (93%) and Cabernet Franc (7%) sourced from La Piramide vineyard Lot 3 in Luján de Cuyo, Domingo vineyard Lot 2 in Valle du Uco and Nicasia Vineyard Lot 2 in Valle de Uco. Lots are fermented spontaneously and separately in small fermentation bins and barrels ranging from 225 to 500 liters in size. Macerated with the skins for 30 days. Aged for 18 months in French oak barrels. 13,7% alcohol, 5,87 g/l acidity and pH 3,63. Tasted blind.
  
  Intense, very deep and fully opaque blackish-red color with a youthful, inky purple hue. The nose feels savory, woody and somewhat dull with a bit earthy overall feel. There are aromas of red plums, damp earth, some licorice root, light smoky tones, a little bit of fresh dark forest fruits, a hint of blueberry and a touch of savory wood spice. The wine is ripe, dense and quite concentrated on the palate with a full body and intense, quite savory flavors of earth, licorice root, old wood spice, some fresh blackcurrant tones, a little bit of dark forest fruits, light sweet notes of toasty oak spice, a hint of campfire smoke and a touch of juicy dark plum. The bright and quite high acidity lends good sense of balance and structure to the wine, whereas the ripe, manicured tannins contribute very little to the structure, coming across as quite underwhelming in relation to the big body of the wine. The finish is dry, subtly grippy and somewhat earthy with medium-long flavors of licorice root, some crunchy and slightly bitter crowberry tones, a little bit of savory wood spice, light sweet notes of ripe blackcurrants and dark plums, a hint of toasty oak and a touch of earth.
  
  A quite enjoyable and somewhat nice yet still a bit underwhelming Argentinian Cab. The wine is enjoyably savory in taste and pleasantly high in acidity, but still the wine feels a bit too ripe, sweet and full-bodied for my preference - even though the wine isn't a worst example of a new world Cab stereotype, this is still a bit too "new world" for my taste. Although balanced and enjoyably complex, the tannin structure feels way too understated to lend the wine any structure and for some reason while quite ripe, the fruit department feels still a bit too understated compared to both the full body and the savory, earthy tones. Perhaps the wine was just in a slump and will turn out more expressive and harmonious with more age? Hard to say. At 40€ the wine feels pretty expensive for its quality - at that price I'd rather buy BAMA instead.

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  12/25/2020 - Sergei&Marisa Likes this wine:

  Heel lekker, maar prijs-kwaliteit discutabel

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