Catena Zapata 2017 Adrianna Fortuna Terrae Malbec

 Special price $105.30  |  regular $117.00

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Critical Acclaim

98 Points from Robert Parker | 98 Points from James Suckling | 95 Points from Wine Spectator

The Catena family has been making wine in Mendoza since 1902, but it was Nicolás Catena, the third generation, who changed Argentina's place in the wine world entirely. In the 1990s he became convinced that Mendoza's high-altitude vineyards, planted well above where most people thought fine wine could be grown, held the key to something special. In 1994 he became the first Argentine producer to export a world-class Malbec under his own name, and in 1997 he released the inaugural vintage of his flagship wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec blend that beat out prestigious Bordeaux and Napa bottlings in a series of blind tastings. That wine put Argentina on the map the way the Judgment of Paris did for California two decades earlier, and it's been the family's benchmark ever since. Today Nicolás works alongside his daughter, Dr. Laura Catena, and longtime winemaker Alejandro Vigil, who has led the cellar since 2002.

Fortuna Terrae, "luck of the land" in Latin, is the most generous and opulent of the three single-vineyard Malbecs Catena Zapata makes from the Adrianna Vineyard, sourced from deep, loamy sandy soils over a limestone base that give it more richness and flesh than its more austere siblings. Bright, saturated ruby in the glass. The nose is tight but expressive, with blackberry, dark chocolate, violets, and a touch of green olive and asphalt-like minerality, along with a surprising streak of citrus freshness for such a powerful wine. On the palate it's dense and layered, full-bodied yet still agile, with soft, silky tannins and firm, well-integrated acidity that keeps it from feeling heavy. Concentrated dark currant, dried blackberry, and baking chocolate carry through a long, powerful finish accented with black licorice and Asian spice. 2017's cooler conditions actually gave this bottling more balance and harmony than the warmer vintages around it, only 5,400 bottles were made.

Drinking window:

Catena's own estate notes say Fortuna Terrae is built to be enjoyed anywhere from a few years to a few decades after harvest, and at 9 years old this bottle is still on the earlier side of that arc. The fruit is generous and the tannins are already silky, so it's genuinely enjoyable now, but there's real structure underneath suggesting it will keep gaining complexity for years to come.

If you're opening tonight, decant for 1 to 2 hours to let the tighter aromatics fully open up. If you'd rather hold, this one has the depth to reward several more years in the cellar without any rush.