Laura Catena’s Pinot Noir Project Just Gets Better and Better
My obsession with Mendoza started in March 2021. The first thing I noticed leaving the airport was that there was a vineyard on both sides of the main road leading to the exit. Add houses made with unlimited love and limited funds, dry canals that wire the city, and the quiet streets drenched in sun, and you get a city in perfect union with nature’s limits.
Over time, I’ve learned about Argentina’s premier wine growing region and the sub-appellations that are constantly on overdrive thanks to curious and innovative winemakers. Perhaps no wine project have I followed so closely than Domaine Nico, small wine project started by Bodega Catena Zapata managing director Laura Catena in 2008 (and named after her daughter, Nicola).
Domaine Nico is Pinot Noir, 100%. It’s led by Laura, overseen by winemaker Alejandro Vigil, and made by winemaker Roy Urvieta, a young man with an incredible wealth of scientific knowledge which isn’t surprising since the Catena approach has been science-driven since Laura’s first day at the helm. Roy is originally from La Consulta, a small town and wine region about 1.5 hours south of Mendoza city. These harvest days, he’s getting home at 10pm (except for his day off on Saturdays) and is checking on the Domaine Nico grapes twice a day, morning and night.
“We’re going to pick Le Paradis tomorrow,” he says, referring to Domaine Nico’s flagship vineyard that lies at 4,921 feet above sea level and is right next to the brick-laden winery in Gualtallary, another wine area known for electric reds and whites. Le Paradis was planted in 2011 to Dijon clone 667 (a selection of Pinot originating from Burgundy), and there’s four other parcels that were planted as far back as 1993 to a mix of Dijon 667, 115 and 777.
Roy has a long term view for this project, which launched with its 2016 vintage and is slowly finding an identity and extremely high quality level. I’ve tasted every vintage lineup so far, and this past week I sat down with Roy to catch up and taste the fleet of Domaine Nico’s 2021 vintage.
For clarity, Domaine Nico has five wines under its umbrella:
1. Grand Mère (SRP: $30)
2. Grand Père (SRP: $30)
3. Histoire d’A (SRP: $50)
4. La Savante (SRP: $50)
5. Le Paradis (SRP: $350)
Laura Catena has deep respect for Burgundy and France’s wine history in general, hence the French names for these wines. And when you look at the project as a whole, it is quite Burgundian. One grape, one producer, Dijon clones, several vineyard parcels (think Domaine G. Roumier, who has Pinot Noirs from Chambolle Musigny or Morey Saint Denis’s various parcels, which appear on the labels).
Roy understands it’s a slow process, and he sees tremendous value (almost too much) in Grand Mère and Grand Père, the most accessible Pinots in the lineup. These two wines are made from the same vineyard at 3,675 feet above sea level.
Why two wines then?
The grapes are sourced from different parcels, which have a different soil profile. Grand Mère has a sandy loam top soil and alluvial round rocks in the sub soil, and is fruitier and slightly more concentrated with a fuller texture. It represents young energy and a primary fruit-focused version of Pinot Noir. The ‘Grandfather’ label is more linear and floral, with subtle spice and a direct line of organized fresh cherry, strawberry and earth. That parcel has a bit less sandy loam which could explain the reduced red fruit presence. Both are amazing intros to Mendoza’s Pinot Noir potential.
Roy’s goal is to stop oak aging by 2025. Although he isn’t using new French oak, which would impart significant unwanted flavors and a noticeable increase in body, he sees the road to improvement with a more restrained approach that will eventually show Pinot Noir in its purest form. These changes are subtle, and even unnoticeable to some, but when competing with the great Pinot Noirs of the world, it’s like milliseconds in a 50 yard freestyle race.
We move on to Histoire d’A and La Savante as we sit across from each other in the tall cellar of Bodega Catena Zapata, located in Agrelo, another wine growing area just south of Mendoza city. The complexity increases and the point gets sharper. We talk about family, harvest and the new projects at Catena Zapata in between sips and spits. I jump from wine to wine rather quick, a technique I heard from Lamberto Frescobaldi at the recent South Beach Wine & Food Festival, where he tries to spot differences quickly and instinctually.
Histoire d’A is grown at 4,429 feet above sea level and clearly has some of the highest acidity of the five wines. While its features aren’t as clearly marked as the rest, it is overall a refreshing Pinot Noir with a thick spine of forest cherry and mint. La Savante on the other hand, is pronounced and arguably a bolstered version of Grand Père, with spice and cool herbs painting the bigger picture. It’s planted at 4,757 feet above sea level, which I mention because altitude makes a big difference in Mendoza.
Before opening the flight of Domaine Nico, Roy and I warmed up our palates with Catena Zapata’s White Stones Chardonnay 2020, which has opened up a space for Argentina’s $80+ whites (well deserving of the price tag). We also tasted the 2020 Malbec Argentino, a benchmark for Argentina’s traditional style of wood-heavy Malbec as compared to Catena Zapata’s Adrianna Vineyard lineup, which shows Malbec on an almost futuristic level (think electricity, high acidity, lighter body, herbal).
Time was passing by and we were approaching 6pm, when Roy planned to visit the Le Paradis vineyard for the second time today to taste the grapes. I was planning to head back to my Airbnb in Godoy Cruz, the neighborhood I prefer to stay in Mendoza, where I had leftover entraña and mashed potatoes waiting in the fridge.
During my first trip to Mendoza, I interviewed Roy for an article in Wine Spectator. The interview took place just a yards from Le Paradis vineyard, where we hopped into a soil pit and saw the root system fight through layers of calcareous rock
Le Paradis lies beyond complexity. It’s complexity broken down to simplicity, which is an insane feat in wine, and I think one of Albert Einstein’s quotes or something? What I mean by that is each component is clearly defined, and each sip opens new doors, much like my experience with a 2014 Domaine des Lambrays I had at dinner in Beaune with my father. You get a fruity slice of Grand Mère, the acidity of Histoire d’A, the subtle herbal spice of La Savante and Grand Père, but the biggest difference? Texture. It is complete on the palate, and as the great California winemaker David Ramey says, ‘it’s all about texture.’
From 2016 to 2021, Domaine Nico has shown not only significant improvement in quality, but a more defined identity that started long before 2016, when Laura’s team banded together to find the best place to grow world class Pinot Noir.
La Pirámide, which is what the main winery is called, was empty on this Thursday afternoon. Roy and I walked out of the sliding doors on the side of the big doors (which were locked), and walked toward the sprawling Agrelo vineyard separated by a never ending road to what is now Catena Zapata’s new restaurant. The silence cleanses the engine of my brain and relaxes me. It’s an underrated medicine.
As I drive away from the winery with the sun blinding my eyes, the road ahead is unclear. The vineyards on my left and right guide me. I won’t miss this place, because I’ll be back so soon.
