Catena Institute of wine Mendoza, Argentina
Malbec propagated through layering - Ph Credit: The Catena Institute of Wine
The story of Bodega Catena Zapata began in 1902: it is the oldest Argentinian winery still in the hands of its founding family and is currently led by fourth generation Dr. Laura Catena. One of Catena Zapata’s many endeavours is to protect and preserve pre-phylloxera old vine Malbec, particularly those in its Angélica Vineyard that are more than 90 years old, growing 920 meters above sea level in Mendoza’s Andean foothills.
Old vines in Salta
In 1995, Laura founded the Catena Institute of Wine (CIW) with the goal of using science to understand the Mendoza terroir and to elevate Argentine wine on the world wine stage.
The Catena Institute of Wine focus its research on key areas of viticulture and enology including: high altitude sunlight intensity, soil microbiome, massale selections, preservation of vine genetic diversity, ungrafted vines, old vines, Argentine Malbec, high altitude Chardonnay, Criolla vinification, climate change, low sulfite vinification techniques, and identifying Grand Cru level sites in emerging Andean viticultural areas.
The Catena Institute of Wine’s mission
With 40+ peer-reviewed scientific publications to date, the Catena Institute is driving innovation in the vineyards through science and helping elevate the wines of Argentina.
In 2023, Dr Laura Catena was awarded the inaugural Old Vine Hero award for her pioneering work.
“When I started working in wine in the 1990’s, it seemed like Old Vines were mostly valued in Europe. Then I found that we had thousands of hectares of old Malbec vines in Argentina which were in the process of being pulled out for replanting. I am an Emergency Doctor by training, and I can recognise an emergency when I see one. I set out to make wine from these beautiful old vineyards and then to preserve their genetically diverse massale selections.” Dr. Laura Catena.
You can watch Dr Laura Catena’s presentation ‘How an agricultural philosophy is using science to preserve the past’ at The Old Vine Conference 2023 on youtube and on oldvines.org/ondemand.
For more information visit:
catenazapata.com
The Catena Institute of Wine
@lauracatenamd
@catenawines
X account: @CatenaScience
Catena Zapata are Honorary members of The Old Vine Conference as part of the Old Vine Hero Award 2023.