2017 Catena Chardonnay Appellation Tupungato Mendoza

The one white in the Appellation range, the 2017 Appellation Tupungato Chardonnay comes from the Villa Bastías vineyard in Tupungato. It fermented for 25 days and matured in a mixture of French and American oak barrels for nine months. It has strong aromatics with plenty of balsamic notes and something herbal. It has a soft, caressing palate and is dry and serious but easy to drink. Very good value. 48,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in April 2018. 2018 - 2022.

(13% alcohol; done partly in tank and partly in barrels; the barrel portion normally goes through malolactic fermentation): Pale, bright yellow. The nose shows considerably more lift than the winery's entry-level Chardonnay, offering perfumed scents of white peach and citrus peel, plus an element of leesy complexity that carries through onto the palate. A distinct step up in intensity too, with a subtle sweetness perfectly buffered by firm acidity and underlying minerality. (Winemaker Alejandro Vigil stirs the lees in the new barrels once a week but just once a month in the older ones.) Finishes firm and long.

Rig, sødmefuld, men også elegant, en ikke atypisk Catena-vin, der forlener det rige med et køligt mineralsk strejf.

Lækker duft af citrus og ananas med en bagkant af smør. Ren og slank i munden med en livlig syre, der toppes op af en lille kridtethed i eftersmagen. Fremragende vin til prisen. Tupungato er dyrket i 1200 meters højde, hvilket her giver et dejligt indspark af friskhed. 20% ny eg.