Nose
The nose is concentrated with blackberry and cassis aromas with nuances of toast and vanilla from oak aging.
Palate
It has a soft mouthfeel, a full-bodied middle and a ripe, lingering finish filled with balanced acidity and mature tannins. Catena Alta Cabernet will only be made in exceptional vintage years.
Growing Conditions
The grapes for Catena Alta Cabernet Sauvignon come from a select block of La Pirámide vineyard, Catena's premier Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard. At more than 940 m (3,100'), the La Pirámide vineyard enjoys a continental climate of sunny days and cool nights, allowing for prolonged hang-time and crisp acidity in the grapes. The Catena Alta block has historically provided the most balanced and uniform yields. The carefully chosen vines undergo a detailed thinning process to leave only select, isolated clusters on the vines to ripen fully.
90% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from the lime, clay soil of Lot 3 in the La Pirámide vineyard and 10% Malbec sourced from the sandy, clay soil of Lot 18 in the 70 year old Angélica vineyard. The 1999 growing season was characterized by even cooler than usual conditions, with average temperatures only reaching 17.6° C in La Pirámide. The hang time was extended, ensuring ripe sweet tannins and excellent aromatics. This vintage can be enjoyed now and will continue to improve over the next 8 to 9 years.
The winter of 1998, after a rather rainy autumn, was dry and temperate. There were not many frosts and so Spring arrived in a dry and moderate atmosphere, with some large temperature variations. Despite the dry conditions, there were some late frost dangers due to the wide thermal amplitude between daytime highs and nighttime lows. In the Catena vineyards, any potential damage to the vines was avoided through the use of heaters in the vineyards.
Summer began with warm and dry weather conditions, demanding the use of irrigation from the underground aquifers. The rest of the summer season offered ideal conditions for the grapes to mature gradually and completely.
The large difference between daytime highs and nighttime lows in the high altitude vineyards of the Andean foothills give the grapes the opportunity to fully develop all elements of color and aroma, as well as ensuring the maturity of ripe sweet tannins in the reds and an excellent sugar/acid balance in the whites. The harvest began in mid-March and lasted through the second week of April. Dry and moderate conditions allowed for Catena's vineyard management team to select the exact moment of optimum ripeness for the harvest of all the fruit.
Winemaking
The grapes are destemmed before undergoing fermentation and a long and thorough maceration.
Total Acidity: 6.18 grams/liter
Unfined and unfiltered
Aging
The new wine is then aged for a total of 18 months in 100% new Taransaud French oak. The result is an extremely concentrated Cabernet, with integrated tannins that will allow the wine to age well into the new Millennium.
Appearance
The 1999 Catena Alta Cabernet Sauvignon has a deep ruby red color with marked violet tones.
