team Argentina

NICOLAS
and LAURA
CATENA • 7O/38
• Owner/Export Manager • Catena Zapata Winery,
Mendoza, Argentina

Father and daughter teams
are old hat in American wineries (think Mike and Violet
Grgich, David and Kim Stare, even grandpa Julio and Gina
Gallo) but they are something rare and wonderful in
Argentina. Nicolas and Laura Catena have forged a special
intercontinental father-daughter relationship around wine
and education. This double interview with father and
daughter took place at the family’s architecturally
breathtaking winery (structured like an Aztec ziggurat)
after a lunch featuring a most impressive wine portfolio.
Visits to Mendoza via Alfredo Bartolomeus of Billington
Imports have introduced many North American journalists to
the Catenas and other distinguished Mendocino winemakers.
Catena’s flagship wine, Nicolas Catena Zapata, consistently
outclassed in many blind tastings several prestigious 1997s:
Opus One, Caymus, Chateau Latour, Chateau Haut Brion, and
Solaia. At lower price points, Catena’s Los Alamos line
delivers quality Mendoza wines very affordably.

A NEW
NAPA? LAURA
Traveling is important work. Customers want to meet you. Dad
has traveled to Asia, and I’m based in California with
family and medical career, but we sure like it when people
want to come down here. Argentine tourism has really
exploded. Some Americans have set up a business near the
Park Hyatt Hotel in Mendoza that offer Americans lots and a
house so they can set up their own vineyards for a lot less
than they could in the States. I’m amazed at how much they
spend on their wineries, and that they’re interested only in
producing small quantities of high-end wine. Mendoza could
be the New Napa! We Mendocinos in the wine world see this as
a positive thing. Many of Mendoza’s larger wineries are
owned by non-Argentine interests; we’re one of the few
wholly owned by an Argentine family. Credit is not easy to
come by in Argentina, given recent economic downturns; it’s
hard for an Argentine to start a winery from scratch. We’ve
paid for our expansions almost strictly through wine sales.
The attitude of Argentine wineries is cooperative; our #1
impetus is to get Argentina into the spotlight. We’ll all do
better when that happens. We’re trying to get groups down
here to visit, tour, taste, and write about our wines, our
country.

ITALIAN
ROOTS
NICOLAS
My grandfather from Le Marche [Adriatic Italy]
planted his first Mendoza vineyard in 19O2. My father was
next, then I got involved in 1964. I was literally born in a
vineyard, about 4O kilometers southeast of here. The Italian
work ethic includes children, so I started working the
vineyard when I was ten, when the important grapes were
Bonarda and a clone of Chenin Blanc. Later I studied
economics in Buenos Aires and at Columbia University. To
stay involved in the winery, I commuted between New York and
Buenos Aires. Back then the trip took 24 hours. Mendoza
winemakers followed the traditions of immigrants from Italy,
Spain and Portugal. Those wines in the 198Os were usually
oxidized and spoiled, but once they did research, they made
significant improvements in their wines, about 1O years
before we did.

COLD
DOWN SOUTH
LAURA
South of here old-vine growers in tiny vineyards began
working closely with our winemakers. We soon purchased
parcels we call Adriana and Altamira, southerly vineyards
colder than Mendoza and dramatically beautiful, as you’re
right at the foot of the high Andes. The grapes are rich in
aromatics and lush on the palate, Malbec being particularly
impressive. We now think that our Malbec ages as good or
better than Cabernet Sauvignon, and retains better fruit
freshness. Our ‘alta seleccion’ includes wines from our five
major vineyards: Angelica [West Mendoza, 29OO ft.];
Uxmal [Agrelo, 31OO ft.], Domingo [Villa
Bastias, 37OO ft.], Adrianna [Tupungato, 5OOO
ft.], and Altamira [La Consulta, 39OO ft.]. All
are drip irrigated, except Angelica, where we still use
flood irrigation: the 8O-year-old vineyard is so used to it
that a change might kill the vines.

CAREER
MOVES
NICOLAS
Because Argentina had suffered from extreme inflation for
over forty years, I had become an expert on inflation
theory. So Berkeley College invited me to lecture and teach
in the agriculture and economics departments. On weekends,
Laura and I explored Napa Valley, which was undergoing a
revolution, taking on the majestic French wine industry.
They were making Cabernet Sauvignon that could be better
than grand cru Bordeaux, and Chardonnay that could be better
than Le Montrachet! I went there for an intellectual
purpose, but came away with an inspiration for
business.

CALIFORNIA
CONNECTIONS
LAURA
My father was a visiting professor at Berkeley so my parents
came to California when I was a teenager. It was there that
I decided to become a doctor, but I always kept an interest
in wine – I won’t tell how we got me a fake ID from
Argentina. When Dad came to visit me at college, he’d tell
me about his wine business, and I’d tell him about medical
school. At one point, he offered me the job of training
salespeople – a big responsibility, but I accepted. After
Kendall Jackson started consulting for us in Mendoza, Dad
spent three years perfecting Malbec but he was not sure it
was good enough so he wanted me to try to launch it in US. I
decided I had to give him more help. But like with any
family operation – even setting a table! – everyone has a
hand in the details.

HIGH AND
DRY
NICOLAS
Our terroir and climate are quite different from other world
wine regions: we’re at high altitude and receive less than
2OOmm of rain a year. These factors influence both phenolic
and aromatic components of any wine, white or red, but
Malbec is especially sensitive to these conditions. I
developed a great admiration for America, and learned much
about wine to practice at my family winery, though I did no
formal enological studies in California.

WINE
MEMORIES LAURA When
I was about five or six, my nonno [grandfather]
would give me a little malbec mixed with soda water. When I
was at Berkeley in the 198Os and my father came to visit, I
was in charge of buying the wines. I had a no-limit credit
card for emergencies – or any wine I wanted to try with him!
In my dorm, we’d taste wonderful wines – like Vega Sicilia
Unico – with pizza. Little by little I got more involved
with wine work. If he liked it, he’d bring it back to
Argentina, because we had no access to fine wines at that
time. It was important for his winemakers to taste great
wines.

SOLVING
WATER RIGHTS
NICOLAS
We Mendocinos were very sophisticated in the legal aspects
of the property rights of who owns the water. Our legal
system is fantastic! The man who developed water rights
legislation in Argentina, Professor Carlo, was an extremely
bright man. For sure, countries like India would do well to
look at our eminently fair system, because we have no
problems with water rights. Today, in terms of what nature
gives us, we do have some years when water is scarce. In
those years, there must be some regulations whereby total
production decreases but quality increases. Yet over the
last ten years, we have not experienced that scarcity; we
don’t know why. LAURA
Maybe global warming? NICOLAS
Since we’ve become quality conscious and regulate watering
with drip irrigation, nature has been sufficient for
Mendoza’s current vineyards, and can even support more
plantings.

GREAT
TOOL
NICOLAS
Gas chromatography has allowed us to classify clones and
theoretically produce the best plants. At the end of the
day, your decision is based on taste, but this instrument
helps greatly. LAURA
Gas chromatography helps us figure out whether we can
concentrate tannins by decreasing water and reducing yields
by letting us look at the wine’s polymerized tannins. In the
old days we’d have to run lots of trials, and ultimately
test with the palate, which can be very biased. Being able
to measure what we do in the vineyard is valuable, because
we’re still trying to understand our unique terroir. Paul
Hobbs recommended letting sunlight into the vineyard, but we
found we must be careful with excessive sunlight here,
especially with Cabernet Sauvignon. We have to try tests
used elsewhere with our own special Mendoza twist, so having
such reliable yardsticks is useful.

WINEMAKER’S
STRENGTHS
NICOLAS
First, for me, is taste, that is, being able to distinguish
flavor and aromatic components. Second, is attention to the
process of the vine and what you can do to improve it. Third
is the ability to communicate well with the vineyard
manager. LAURA
#1 is to have an interest in the vineyard, not just the
winery, and to be demanding of the vineyard manager. #2 is
to be calm. Wine has many different stages, and sometimes it
may taste a little strange. A winemaker who wants to control
every situation might want to add things to the wine. But
wine actually needs to take on a life of its own. And it is
hard to find an intelligent, vibrant person who is also
patient.

WORST
MISTAKE
NICOLAS
When I started my winery improvement program, I didn’t pay
attention to my father. Our family winery was Italian and
Spanish oriented. But when I went to California, I started
to think about international standards of quality. Napa was
trying to compete with the world’s best! France was God! You
could never think of being God! Yet Robert Mondavi and the
Napa Valley people dared to challenge the gods. I was
shocked. So, my inspiration was Napa. I tried to imitate
Napa in Mendoza. I wanted to take part in the challenge. I
tried to produce a great Cabernet Sauvignon and a great
Chardonnay – like California. Malbec had no relevance for
me. My father said: “Okay, Nico, make your world-class
wines. But, would you please try to make great Malbec, too?
For me?” So, only because I loved my father, and wanted to
please his memory, I also worked on Malbec. This is
absolutely true. We began all the research needed to
understand and produce a great wine from this practically
unknown varietal. It was a very long process, because nobody
knew how to do it. And I produced my first world-class
Malbec in 1997.

MUST
READS
NICOLAS
Maynard Amerine’s Wine and Philip Wagner’s Grapes Into
Wine!. I can repeat chapters of those books.
LAURA
Andrea Immer’s book explains cool climate aromatics in a way
that’s easy to pass along to consumers. I’m a big fan of
Jancis Robinson’s Encyclopedia and refer to it almost daily
like a dictionary.

BEST
TRIP
NICOLAS
In 1986 I organized my first trip to Bordeaux to include the
five Premier Grand Cru Classes. My connections were so good
that I tasted what I wanted! LAURA I was at Berkeley, about
18, studying French literature. Dad said, “Why don’t you
come along as my translator?” We stayed with Jacques Lurton
at La Louviere and met his family. We went to Paris and
drank great French wine. After the trip I said to him, “I
still want to be a doctor, but this wine thing is quite
fun!” Five years later I started working for the winery!
Another wonderful trip was my honeymoon to South Africa in
1996. It was inspirational to see another new world country
with a very long wine tradition and tremendous enthusiasm. I
feel we share a subequatorial sister spirit.