2016 Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard River Stones Malbec

This remarkably elegant Gualtallary Malbec comes from a terroir with a high percentage of calcium carbonate. Deeply coloured, wonderfully scented and precise with the underlying tannic structure to age and a core of fennel, thyme and blackberry. 2020-30.

This is a dense and fresh malbec for the vintage. Dark berries such as blueberries and raspberries with a licorice and stone undertone. Full body, layered and flavorful. Drink in 2020.

Like the other Malbecs from Adrianna Vineyard, the 2016 Adrianna Vineyard River Stones was bottled a little earlier, and the time in oak was shortened. It was a most unusual year that was cold and rainy and allowed for no irrigation. This has good ripeness and sharp acidity, making it powerful but extremely fresh, with a backbone of acidity that lifts the wine up and makes it extremely long and persistent. In fact, the wine blows me away with an unusual combination of power and elegance; it shows detailed and nuanced, with subtle aromas of violets, spices, tobacco and wet chalk. It has a velvety texture with ultra refined, fine-grained tannins. It is precise in the acidity and on the palate, with the textbook chalky tannins and a sapid, almost salty finish. This is serious, austere, mineral, long, compact, harmonious and concentrated, yet it feels light and has that somewhat contradictory powerful elegance. This has to be the best wine ever produced at Catena. I'd love to have a time machine and taste this wine in 20 years' time... There are some 3,800 bottles of this. 2020 - 2036.