The weekend must be near; it’s a Catena Thursday!

Because, as Wine Advocate says, “when all is said and done, Catena is the Argentina winery of reference - the standard of excellence for comparing all others.”

We have a trio of tiny tranches lined up. All flagship material. All with massive accolades. Here we go!

So many scores, so little room. So, we did what Spies does best: Cracked the price wide open. $60 under retail.

With endless press, we had to stop at six reviews, all in the 96-97 range which you can find below.

Stacked in every which way! Fruit, structure, altitude influence, complexity; did you say 40% OFF?

In the glass, we’re with Master of Wine Tim Atkin on this. Those pretty hints of violets and tarragon lead the charge right out of the gate. A few wafty swirls later, it opens up: boysenberry, blackberry, and cherry, with hints of dark chocolate powder dusting the edges. Give it some decant time, and things get serious: toast and spice, a flicker of black raspberry, and then the high elevation and vineyard influence reveal themselves in full with notes of gravel, cracked pepper, cedar, thyme, and blackcurrant. And the finish? Umm… it doesn’t end. It lingers, evolves, and lingers some more.

Nicolás made history when the inaugural vintage was put up blind against Latour, Haut-Brion, Solaia, Caymus, and Opus One when it came in either 1st or 2nd place in every flight.

So, let’s talk fruit sources: The Nicolás pulls the best from two of Mendoza’s most coveted high-altitude sites: Adrianna in Gualtallary at nearly 5,000 feet above sea level, with Cabernet and Malbec planted in 1992. Calcareous over gravel, the kind of dirt that makes geeks weak in the knees. Then some Nicasia in Paraje Altamira, at 3,593 elevation, Malbec and Cabernet Franc planted in 1996. Gravel, sand, and loam: different recipe, same magic.

Why does soil matter? Unless you’re dirt nerds like us, ‘calcareous’ probably doesn’t get your pulse racing. Think of it this way: every vine has a happy place. You’ve seen it with a successful, happy veggie season in your own backyard. The spot where roots stretch deep, leaves drink in the right amount of sun, and the fruit ripens slowly enough to develop real concentration and character. High elevation + the right soils = concentration that shows up in every sip, but only at the hands of the right winemaker.

Winemakers Alejandro Vigil and Fernando Buscema are Argentina’s sharpest minds in the cellar, coupled with a 25-year partnership with Baron Eric de Rothschild of DBR (Lafite). Yes, that Lafite. High-altitude viticulture meets Bordeaux precision. No wonder Robert Parker calls it “Argentina’s equivalent of Lafite-Rothschild.”

The result? A Bordeaux-style blend born in the Andes and racking up scores like a frequent flyer racks up miles… the irony is how little we have. Total unicorn territory!

97 Points - James Suckling “Sweet tobacco, cigarbox, berries and minerals. It gets a little zesty and citrusy on the nose. Really refined and juicy on the palate with a lot of fine tannins. Silky, fluid and linear with a very elegant, soft-spoken finish. 46% Cabernet Sauvignon from Adrianna vineyard and 44% Malbec and 10% Cabernet Franc from Nicasia vineyard. Really refined, long, and Bordelais. This is already drinking well, but it will hold like this for a long time.”

96+ Points - Wine Advocate “The 2021 Nicolás Catena Zapata was produced with a blend of 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Malbec and 10% Cabernet Franc from Nicasia and Adrianna vineyards. It fermented in small oak barrels, concrete and stainless-steel tanks and matured in 2,000-liter oak foudres for 18 months. It’s a powerful but fresh red with 13.7% alcohol and mellow acidity, perhaps because the Cabernet Sauvignon was picked earlier (and with lower yields) and they discarded the clay soils and went more for stony plots. The wine feels more streamlined and elegant. 2021 is a cool and very good year, following the path of the 2019, and the wine shows the classical herbal and spicy character of the Bordeaux varieties with pungent notes of black peppercorns and is spicier because of the high Cabernet Franc content. 64,200 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2022. Drink 2024-2034.”

96 Points - Tim Atkin MW “Nicolás is a finely crafted blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Malbec and 10% Cabernet Franc from Fernando Buscema, showcasing the contrasting terroirs of Gualtallary and Paraje Altamira. Appealingly international in style, it has lovely cigar box and coffee bean oak, layers of mint, violet and tarragon, granular, fine-bones tannins and harmonious chocolate, blackberry and blackcurrant leaf flavours.”

96 Points – Inside Bordeaux “A cool vintage, although not as much as 2016, with precision and nuance, floral aromatics, raspberry leaf, black cherry and brambled hedgerow fruit, with tobacco and chamomile flowers, smoky and intense. This vintage sees a new label for the first time since this wine was first released back in 1997, pointing to what makes it so different from many Argentinian Cab-Malbec blends (ungrafted pre-phylloxera vines, whole cluster vinification, massal selection programme leading to the diversity of their DNA). 50% new oak for ageing. Tasted twice.”

96 Points - Decanter “Great poise and definition in this bright 2021 with less Cabernet Franc (10%) than in previous vintages and more Malbec (44%). This make up comes through in the moreish herbal notes (thyme, oregano, rocket) that outline the blackcurrant and blackberry fruit. Underneath, a juicy fluidity brings in freshness and ease throughout. Drink 2025-2035.”

96 Points - Vinous “For some producers, the 2021 vintage, marked by certain rains in February that tempered the harvest temperatures in March, represents the closest thing to a Bordeaux year that can be achieved in Mendoza. In that sense, 2021 was an ideal vintage for Bordeaux-origin varieties. This unique situation is clearly reflected in the 2021 Malbec Nicolás Vineyard, which unveils a new label for this vintage after being aged up to 21 months in French oak barrels. The wine blends 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Malbec and 10% Cabernet Franc from Uco Valley vineyards. With a deep purple hue and a garnet tint, it opens with delicate cassis and Bordeaux-like nuances of ash, tobacco, black fruit and cherry. Expressive and compact, it features cedar notes on a long, lingering finish. Drink 2025-2045.”