The Adrianna vineyard, planted at almost 5,000’ elevation in the Andes foothills, lies on the westernmost border of Tupungato Alto, Mendoza, Argentina, in a small district called Gualtallary.[1][2][3][4] It belongs to the Bodega Catena Zapata.[5] Being the highest vineyard in Mendoza, it benefits from the cooling effect [1][6][7] of the Andes Mountains and intense sunlight [8][9] resulting from extreme high altitude.[6] The increased sunlight intensity due to altitude translates into thicker grape skins, because the grapevine attempts to protect its seeds from the sun.[1] Grape skins are rich in tannins and polyphenols, the flavour-giving compounds in wine, explaining why the Adrianna Vineyard's high-altitude wines are so concentrated and capable of ageing.[1][7] Also, because of the cool mountain climate, the wines from Adrianna have a certain type of minerality [4][10][11] in the aromatics and palate that is not found in wines from other parts of Mendoza. The soils [4][12] of Catena Zapata´s Adrianna Vineyard are composed of limestone and large pebbles that make them particularly well drained; the yields are naturally low and berries are small and concentrated[1] Adrianna is possibly the world’s most studied vineyard.[2][5][13][14] The Adrianna Vineyard is well known for its single parcel Chardonnay wines White Bones and White Stones.[4][12] and its Malbec, which have been highly reviewed by world wine publications [3] [7] [15]
Robert Parker of The Wine Advocate awarded a perfect 100-point score to the 2016 vintage of River Stones Malbec.[16]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Catena, Laura (September 2010). Vino Argentino, An Insiders Guide to the Wines and Wine Country of Argentina. Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0-8118-7330-7.
- ^ a b Wine trials: The Most In-depth Study of Cultivars Ever Attempted. The Future of Wine Science., "Wine Business Monthly, by Lance Cutler", November, 2015.
- ^ a b Saving Malbec, Saveur Magazine, December, 2015.
- ^ a b c d To move beyond Malbec, look below the surface, The New York Times, by Eric Asimov, February, 2016.
- ^ a b Goode, Jamie (2015). Catena Institute of Wine, The Science of Argentine Wine, page 31. Blurb. ISBN 978-1-32-051522-1.
- ^ a b Malbec from Argentina, 45 wines tried, Wineanorak, 2006
- ^ a b c The Story of the Adrianna Vineyard, Huffington Post, September, 2015.
- ^ Visiting Mendoza, Argentina - A question of Altitude, Wineanorak, 2008
- ^ Argentina gets more polish, Jancis Robinson, Octubre, 2008
- ^ International Wine Cellar, Stephen Tanzer Wine Mdq, March 2014
- ^ International Wine Cellar, Stephen Tanzer Archived 2016-04-02 at the Wayback Machine Wine Access, March 2013
- ^ a b White Stones and White Bones: terroir-based Chardonnays from Catena Jamie Goode's Wine Blog, November 2014
- ^ High Hopes in the Andes, The Economist 1843, December,January 2017.
- ^ Laura Catena: the quest to find Argentina’s winemaking potential, The Buyer April 24, 2017.
- ^ Los vinos argentinos mejor puntuados en RobertParker.com La Nación, August 2015
- ^ Two Wines from Catena’s Adrianna Vineyard are First South American Wines Awarded 100 Points from Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate PR Web, July 2018
