On March 26, 2026, Drinks International named Catena Zapata the world’s most admired wine brand for the second consecutive year — and the third time overall, after first claiming the title in 2020. The vote was cast by 100 independent experts: sommeliers, Masters of Wine, buyers and critics with no commercial ties to the wineries they evaluate. Italy’s Antinori placed second and Familia Torres third. In the words of the publication: “Under the leadership of Laura Catena, this family-owned Argentine estate has become a global symbol of Malbec, a true standard bearer for South American wine.” The winery has been among the top three for seven years now. It is the result of a project that began in 1902, accelerated in the 1980s, and has continued to build momentum ever since.
A Pyramid at High Elevation in the foothills of the Andes Mountains
Bodega Catena Zapata was founded by Italian immigrant Nicola Catena who planted his first vines in Mendoza in 1902. Three generations later, his grandson Nicolás Catena Zapata — an economist with a degree from Columbia University — made a decision that would define Argentine wine for decades. After spending two years as a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley’s Department of Agricultural Economics, he studied Napa Valley’s rise to global prestige, returning to Mendoza with a single question in mind: could Argentina produce wines that would stand among the best in the world?
Catena would spend the 1980s and ’90s answering this question. The first step was the recovery of Malbec, a variety that had been central to the great wines of Bordeaux before the 19th-century phylloxera epidemic but was being pulled out in Argentina because of its low yields. Nicolás Catena Zapata set out to bring Malbec back to greatness on the world stage. The second discovery was planting at high elevation as a way to increase complexity, elegance and ageing potential for his wines. In 1995, Nicolás planted the Adrianna Vineyard in Gualtallary Monasterio, Tupungato, at 1,460 meters above sea level. The Mendoza wine establishment thought it was a mistake. The grapes, they said, would never ripen and succumb to frost because of the high altitude. They were wrong.
The Science Behind the Vineyard
What separates Catena Zapata from other quality-focused wineries is not just the ambition of its viticulture but the rigor with which it is studied. In 1995, Dr. Laura Catena, Nicolás Catena Zapata’s daughter — who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in Biology and holds a medical degree from Stanford — founded the Catena Institute of Wine. Over the following three decades, the Institute has published more than 40 peer-reviewed papers in collaboration with UC Davis, the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, CONICET, the University of Burgundy, and other institutions worldwide. Its primary subject: the study of the Adrianna Vineyard, parcel by parcel.
The research established facts that have since become reference points for high-altitude viticulture globally. UV-B light at elevation results in the mountain vines producing more phenolic compounds — tannins, anthocyanins, polyphenols — that translate into greater complexity and ageing potential. Variations in soil texture and limestone and calcium carbonate content in the different parcels give rise to wines that are measurably distinct from each other even under standardized winemaking conditions. White Bones and White Stones, Adrianna’s two single-parcel Chardonnays sourced from sites just 50 meters apart, are radically different wines in every vintage — proof that terroir, in Gualtallary Monasterio, is not an abstraction but a scientific fact.
The Catena Institute’s work has extended beyond the Catena Family Wineries. Between 2010 and 2015, the Catena Institute developed Argentina’s first sustainability protocol for the wine industry, now adopted by more than 200 wineries. Catena’s wines were the first to be certified, in June 2015, and as part of its efforts in sustainability, Catena has since reduced bottle weight by 40 percent over the last 15 years.
The Winemaker
Alejandro Vigil has led winemaking at Catena Zapata since 2007. At the age of 28, he became the youngest professional to head the Soil Analysis Department at INTA, Argentina’s National Institute of Agricultural Technology. Under his leadership, Catena Zapata was named New World Winery of the Year by Wine Enthusiast in 2010.
In 2018, two wines from Adrianna Vineyard — Adrianna Vineyard River Stones Malbec 2016 and Gran Enemigo Single Vineyard Cabernet Franc Gualtallary 2013 — became the first South American wines to receive 100 points from Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate.
Catena Zapata Reaches 15 Perfect Scores: The Vineyard With No Equal in South America
The Wines
Adrianna Vineyard River Malbec became the first South American wine to receive 100 points from Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate — in both the 2016 and 2021 vintages — as well as 100 points from James Suckling for the 2017 and 2018 vintages. Adrianna Vineyard Mundus Bacillus Terrae Malbec — sourced from a 1.4-hectare parcel at 1,390 meters above sea level — posted a Wine Advocate average of 97.3 points between 2011 and 2022, higher than Penfolds Grange, Château Latour, Masseto, and Ornellaia over the same period, and was ranked #1 among the world’s best Malbecs by Wine-Searcher. It has earned perfect scores from Jane Anson (2019, 2021), Descorchados in three consecutive vintages (2021–2023), and Falstaff (2011). Adrianna Vineyard has accumulated 22 perfect scores — more than any other vineyard in South America.
Adrianna Vineyard White Bones Chardonnay 2022 received 19/20 from jancisrobinson.com, 100 points from James Suckling, and 98 from Parker in the same vintage — the most decorated single white wine in Argentine history. Catena Zapata Malbec Argentino — a blend from pre-phylloxera old vines in the Angélica and Nicasia vineyards, carrying an Old Vine designation from the 2023 vintage onwards — is the winery’s most internationally visible label, its four illustrated female figures telling the story of Malbec from medieval France to the Argentine Andes. Nicolás Catena Zapata 2019, a Bordeaux-style blend, was ranked by Le Figaro with the same rating as Château Mouton Rothschild, Château Margaux, Masseto, and Solaia. Catena Zapata Birth of Cabernet, the newest label in the portfolio, a sister label to Catena Zapata’s Malbec Argentino, is also a creation by the sisters Dr. Laura Catena and Dr. Adrianna Catena, and artist Rick Shaefer. The label tells the story of the birth of Cabernet Sauvignon, as the “child” of Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc, combining art, history and science into a magical storytelling tryptic. The label won the Expressions Award for Best Design and Packaging (Wine) at The Drinks Business Awards, presented during the London Wine Fair in May 2025.
In 2023, The World’s 50 Best Vineyards named Catena Zapata the #1 World’s Best Vineyard, and the following year, Catena Zapata was inducted into the Hall of Fame. After receiving both the Decanter Man of the Year award in 2009 and Wine Spectator’s Distinguished Service Award in 2012, Nicolás Catena Zapata became the first South American producer to receive both distinctions.
Beyond Wine
The Catena Zapata winery’s reach in 2025 and 2026 extended well beyond the bottle. Angélica Cocina Maestra, the Catena Zapata restaurant facing the winery’s Mayan-inspired pyramid in Agrelo, received a MICHELIN red star and green star in April 2025 —renewed in July 2026. Its concept, ‘Wine First’, inverts the traditional restaurant logic: wine becomes the main course, and food is the pairing, not the other way around. Wine Enthusiast included Angélica Cocina Maestra among the world’s best winery restaurants for 2026; 50 Best Discovery added it to its platform in July 2026 as part of the first-ever vineyard category on the site.
In 2025, the Catena Institute of Wine launched Domaine EdeM, Elena de Mendoza, a line of no- and low-alcohol sparkling wines based on high-altitude Uco Valley Chardonnay. Developed over five years of research, the range earned Gold and Silver Medals at The Drinks Business Global No & Low Alcohol Masters and Double Gold Medals from Gilbert & Gaillard and was the only wine-based product recommended by Decanter Magazine in its conscious consumption guide. Domaine EdeM’s Blonde (0.0 % alcohol) and Uco Stones (7% alcohol) launched in the United States in June 2026.
How Adrianna Vineyard Became South America’s “Grand Cru”
Cultural Reach
Catena Zapata is often found in the hands of music and sports celebrities. Lionel Messi received a bottle of Malbec Argentino as a birthday gift from David Beckham. Shakira highlighted the label’s four female figures on an Instagram story during her “Las Mujeres No Lloran” world tour. And in April 2026, Formula 1 driver Franco Colapinto received a six-liter bottle of Malbec Argentino 2020, signed and dedicated by chief winemaker Alejandro Vigil, the weekend before 600,000 people lined Buenos Aires’s streets for the most-watched Formula 1 road show in Argentine history.
In 2027, Catena Zapata Celebrates 125 Years Making Wine in Argentina
During the summer of 2026, the Catena sisters, fourth generation vintners Laura and Adrianna Catena gathered with a group of Catena importers in Belforte del Chienti, Le Marche, Italy, to pay homage to the Catena Winery’s Italian origins. They were celebrating the “knighting” of their father, now “Cavaliere Nicolás Catena” by the President of Italy for his contributions to promoting “Italianità”, Italian values. Says Dr. Laura Catena: “my great grandfather Nicola Catena came to Argentina with a dream in his mind, to plant a vineyard, raise a family, and make his own wine. Our father, Nicolás Catena Zapata, is known as the man who put fine Argentine wine on the world map. My sister and I have a single goal in mind: to elevate Argentine wine for another 200 years, and to continue to make Argentine wines that stand with the best of the world.”
Periodista, viajera full-time, especialista en Cultura, Negocios y Lifestyle.
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