Catena Appellation Agrelo Cabernet Sauvignon 2017

There may be no other wine region in the world that is more like Napa than Argentina’s Mendoza Valley. Much like Napa – wineries are easily reachable from the wine capital city of Mendoza with many people simply biking from winery to winery. And much like Napa – there are a few very special AVAs with personality and quality in a totally different stratosphere.

The vineyards east of town are what put Argentinian wine on the map. Big operations that churn out drinkable but mass production wine in gargantuan quantities. Out of town heading to the south is the hit parade of tiny subzones making world-class wines – many that rarely make it stateside.

This is the area of tradition – where vines are typically much, much older having escaped constant replanting as wineries elsewhere constantly chased worldwide varietal trends. Arid Perdriel – with some of the oldest vines in the world can be found here – blocked from rain by the Andes. Las Compuertas with some of the poorest soils in the country are right here too.

But continue the drive just a bit further south and you’ll find the town of Agrelo and Catena winery. This is where the most complex wines in the entire country are grown – high up on the steep slopes overlooking the town and in the shadows of the mountains – combining the effect of extremely great drainage with the ‘rainshadow’ of the Andes.