2016 Malbec Mendoza

The fresh, floral and expressive 2016 Catena Malbec blends grapes from different parts of Mendoza: Lunlunta, Agrelo, Altamira El Cepillo and Gualtallary. It fermented in stainless steel and matured in French and American oak barrels for an average of 12 months. It's straight and a little austere but has deep flavors. Superb quality for the price and volume. 984,000 bottles produced.

Bright ruby-red. Musky scents of black raspberry, blueberry, dark chocolate and spices. Denser, sweeter and riper than the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon, showing a more chocolatey character on the palate, but also nicely delineated owing to subtle herb and pepper nuances and mineral accents. The wine's Uco Valley component is obvious in its inner-mouth perfume. Not the ripest or fullest recent vintage for this bottling but this intense midweight finishes with repeating pepper and herb notes and very good length.

(13% alcohol): Healthy dark red with ruby tones. Sexy, already expressive scents of black raspberry, leather and resiny oak lifted by a note of black pepper. Fine-grained on entry, then less deep in the middle palate than the 2015 version, showing a repeating peppery quality to the dark fruit and leather flavors. A juicy if slightly lean wine with modest sweetness, ripeness and depth.