Catena Zapata Malbec 2017 is our Wine of the Week!

This is a young, juicy Malbec with plenty of freshness. You’ll find notes of red and black cherries, ripe red plum, blackberries, blueberries, lavender, violets, vanilla, and mocha. Fine tannins lend to a velvety texture while the layered finish lingers.

Our Wines of the Week meet strict standards:

• The wine must be memorable in that “I still think about it days later” way.

• It must be GETTABLE - private stock that no one can ever find or taste is pointless.

• There needs to be at least one unique, distinguishing characteristic.

• It has to have good story!

So let’s get to it.

It’s memorable. As mentioned above, the finish lingers… for days. At least the memory of it does. Because the finish is so bright and layered, unfolding almost in opposite sequence than the taste does on the palate - spices, then floral, then fruit notes - the experience of the wine is extended. Hence, more moments!

It’s gettable. At around $25, Catena isn’t exactly inexpensive, but it’s worth every penny and definitely worth re-ordering. My colleague tells me it’s his Go To wine. I trust this man’s taste, so keep it stocked! Find it at our affiliate, wine.com.

It’s unique and distinguishing. High in the hills…lie the vineyards that grow the grapes for Catena Malbec. Well above 3,200 feet, the high altitude contributes to a long ripening process, which in turn allows for flavor concentration in the grapes, since days are warm and sunny while nights are clear and cool. We really don’t talk enough about the importance of altitude when it comes to winemaking; the impact is fascinating! Vintner Laura Catena is a fourth generation winemaker in the Catena family. She is also a physician and author who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, and with a medical degree from Stanford. Like Laura, this wine has earned its distinction!

The story. I was never a great fan of Malbec. Having bias against a grape breaks one of my cardinal rules when it comes to wine - and life in general - ‘don’t paint with a big brush’.

A friend and colleague of mine recently recommended Cantena Malbec while we were researching high quality examples to use for a class. His recommendation coincided perfectly with the fact that I had just ordered a bottle. I got in touch to let him know, and he shared that he’d actually met and sampled the wine with Laura Catena herself! Feeling only one degree removed from that (surely magical) tasting that took place between the two of them in the mountains of Mendoza made my bottle even more special.

Experience it yourself. I promise your life will get just a little bit better.