White Bones, Catena Zapata
In colour, very similar to its sister White Stones.
A burst of lavender, lemon peel, ripe pear, white peach and tart apple. Perhaps there’s a shy Jasmine lurking in there, and it is definitely mineral-driven.
Crisp and bright, but lingering. This wine has a sexy floral & wild herb finish that almost licks your tongue. Zestier than White Stones and perhaps the showier of the sisters. Killer acidity too.
We’d be happy with lobster, or a nice slab of swordfish or scallop tartar. But seriously, just leave us alone with the bottle.
100% Chardonnay, 13% alcohol. 7.2gr acidity. Unfined. Unfiltered.
Winery samples. No decanting, tasted over a period of 4 days.
More on the Wine…
This is the impressive duo of single-vineyard Chardonnays from Argentine wine-royalty, the Catena Zapatas. The vineyard in question is their high altitude Gualtallary plantation, Adrianna, which boasts over 110 hectares of handsome vines. However these wines are carefully selected vine by vine for their different soils. White Stones as you may guess has a much stonier composition which shows the ancient riverbed the vines are planted above. The stones are all white, covered in calcium deposits. The Bones part is where a much finer soil is found, although it is peppered with limestone and calcarious deposits where you can find fossilised animal bones. That would be the only difference between the wines, which are each from the same mix of same clones (76 and 95) and slowly fermented in old French oak.
More on the Producer…
Catena Zapata is one of the most renowned and larger wineries in Mendoza, they are well known for making some of the top quality Malbecs in the 90s and turn of the century. This is from their top line of the winery, which sits alongside other single-vineyard wines from the Uco Valley. This particular vineyard, Adrianna, is one of the highest altitude in the Uco Valley and within the Gualltallary appellation, which is fastly becoming one of the most individual in Argentina. The head winemaker for this wine is Alejandro Vigil.