2007 Bodega Catena Zapata Malbec Catena Alta

Community Tasting Notes (56) Avg Score: 89.8 points

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  8/29/2022 - PSPatrick wrote: 88 Points

  Dark ruby colour. Ripe red and black berry fruit, herbaceous notes, coffee, graphite, spices, mint and some liquorice, with supporting acidity, fine tannin, and very good persistence. That said, the acidity is slightly artificial and pronounced, ant the wine finishes herbaceous, drying, and bitter. Not a fan.

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  2/25/2022 - iamandyc Likes this wine: 91 Points

  This has aged nicely and become earthy and flinty -- very serious for a Malbec. The fruit is dry but deep with red notes peaking through.

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  6/21/2020 - johnrm Likes this wine: 89 Points

  I'm a bit confused. This is the wine that came up on a barcode search and it says 'historic lots' on the label as shown here. This is in contrast to another Catena Alta Malbec on this site which is superficially similar but has 'historic rows' as the only difference on the label and is, apparently made by Laura Catena (but has no reviews).
  Anyway, I have added a photo of the label here and will keep my comments brief.
  Very deep, rich colour. A couple of hours after decanting, there was a good nose and a complex palate with lots of freshness and acidity for a wine of this age but without the depth and complexity of the previous bottle tasted a couple of years ago. The end palate had too much acidity with dusty tannins. It went pretty well with roast sirloin of beef but did not hit the heights of the previous bottle. Frankly, it was a disappointment at this level.
  Note. A sample tasted next day was better. Mainly cherry fruit but still with plenty of acidity and dusty tannin. Worth raising to 89 at this point.
  A 2105 Alamos Malbec was opened as a point of comparison and held up very well against this top-end Malbec. Surprising. I feel I have to grade this less generously than before. Perhaps it is just showing its age.

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  8/9/2018 - SpoochMan Likes this wine: 90 Points

  Brought to CSHL summer course. Was drinking well.

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  5/19/2018 - johnrm Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Well stored under ideal conditions; there was hardly a couple of mm cork penetration. Deep, opaque colour with a touch of purple at the rim and a rich, spicy nose. Palate was massive, rich, meaty with blackberries, soft tannins, excellent balance of acidity, fruit, body, tannin.
  Set aside for 6h by which time there was rich dark cherry and dark berry fruit with mulberry, almost citrus acidity. Dark plums developed gradually with time in the glass. Soft, food-friendly tannins and there was a hint of white pepper on the late palate. Very smooth and harmonious with good (orange) acidity and excellent length. Expensive but a very fine example of high quality Malbec with a good life ahead of it (if you still have any left after one or two earlier reviews!).
  The wine came alive with food (what it was made for, after all). With rare roast beef, the tannins and acidity were essential but, now, completely integrated and unobtrusive. The wine was sweet, soft, complex, and, after food, the orange notes merged into the fine dark berry fruit on the deep, complex palate. Gorgeous. 93

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