Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard is a living monument to high altitude winegrowing. It has been called the “most studied vineyard in the world” and “South America’s grand cru.” What makes this spot so special?
“Grand Cru” Qualities
In the early 1990s Nicolás Catena Zapata sought out this site — at ~5,000 ft. elevation in Gualtallary, situated on the northern edge of Tupungato in Argentina’s Uco Valley. A few years later Dr. Laura Catena, fourth generation vintner, physician, and author, initiated the the founding project of the Catena Institute of Wine. “Today, the team of the Catena Institute of Wine is dedicated to studying every meter, every rock, every insect, and microorganism in the Adrianna Vineyard, making it perhaps the most studied vineyard in the world,” according to the Catena team.
Like all great vineyards, the pedigree comes from terroir. And in Adrianna Vineyard, the key element is elevation. But elevation alone does not create an excellent wine (or even a poor one) and understanding what makes this site exceptional has been the goal of the Catena team for decades. For many vintners, the proof found in the pudding could be sufficient, but Dr. Catena and her team are motivated to learn and communicate further.
“The concept of a grand cru is a French term that’s use now widely, like restaurant, for example,” says Dr. Catena. “Is it now ready to be used internationally as a concept?” Without implying that grand cru terminology belongs on the bottle, Catena ponders if certain vineyards (perhaps Adrianna Vineyard) have earned a spot in this echelon, regardless of formal classifications. Is grand cru a construct as much as a definition, at this point? And could empirical observations of a given parcel or vineyard elevate it to grand cru status, outside of the French system? These are concepts Catena and others contemplate.
Larry Stone is a Master Sommelier and founder of Lingua Franca, an estate winery in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. He says that the concept of grand cru outside of the bureaucratic designation is valid. “There is so much packed into [the term] that we don’t have another word for it that really encompasses what it is,” says Stone. “I think there’s a difference between describing yourself officially as a grand cru vs describing what you’re looking for in terms of grand cru qualities.”
Stone says that a collective understanding — arising from multiple farmers working with a given plot — can drive a movement to creative the most excellent wine that they can from that space which he describes as an “historic level of accomplishment.”
Planting “Higher and Cooler”
Still relatively young in the records of wine history, Adrianna Vineyard continues to mature beyond the traditional sense of that word. It’s arguable that most wine consumers, even the highly educated, wouldn’t pull the name Adrianna out of their hat, when asked to name the world’s best growing sites. But the Catena team, and others that witness the ever-growing fingerprint of this site, believe that’s due to a nascent communication and education canon. If more consumers understand that this is a site with grand cru chops, it helps people identify that they are drinking something truly special.
Wines produced from specific parcelas (plots or parcels) within Adrianna Vineyard present distinct flavors and aromatics that separate them from wines made from neighboring parcelas. For example, Adrianna Vineyard White Bones Chardonnay originates from vine rows growing in soil that’s layered with calcareous deposits and fossilized animal bones. Vintage after vintage this release has unique aromatics and mineral impressions — for instance, the palate on the 2018 offers a herbal, minty, and menthol character that is purely different from the creamy and floral Chardonnay produced in the nearby White Stones parcela, which is gravelly and rocky — and not a whiff of minty herbs to be found.
“The Grand Cru concept refers to wines that are distinctive and could only come from one particular, small place, and are age-worthy and profound,” says Catena. “I think we have made this kind of wine in our Adrianna Vineyard.” She cites distinct White Stones and White Bones Chardonnay, Fortuna Terrae, Mundus Bacillus Terrae, and River Stones Malbec as evidence celebrated by the global consumer market. “These wines, and our Nicolás Catena Zapata Cabernet Sauvignon-Malbec blend, are already collected in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.”
High Altitude and Climate Change
Now is the time, in fact, for global recognition of high altitude sites such as Adrianna Vineyard. When Nicolás Catena Zapata planted these vines in the early 1990s, many believed that the Bordeaux varieties — such as the Argentine signature grape Malbec — didn’t stand a chance at ripening in these conditions. But the particular soil composition, plus the balance achieved through bright sunlight hours and the cool climate, indeed produce fully mature tannins and equipoise of acidity and alcohol.
Stone notes that the modern winegrowing world is on alert to the impact of climate change, and that sites regarded one way decades ago, are contemplated anew. “With climate change we are going to discover that many more sites can be on the level of 1er cru or grand cru,” he says.
“Look at what we did in Argentina,” says Catena. “We are entering an era of climate change” which is a different environment than when her father planted “higher and cooler” than the norm back in the 1980s and 1990s. She concedes that the “cowboy” nature of Argentina, with unique restrictions and economies than Europe, makes winegrowing regulation a different beast than in France. While it may be possible to plant “higher and cooler” in parts of Europe, the codifying of appellations may not always allow new sites the benefit of the most-respected origin naming.
But similar to the conversation about the term grand cru, there is potential in sites that don’t have a name to which to cling, if consumers are offered an understanding beyond the label. Adrianna Vineyard stands as appealing point in this dynamic. “I have no doubt that certain terroirs in Argentina can make wines of elegance and character,” says Catena. “Wines that have the structure, acidity, and complexity to age for several decades and perhaps even a century.”