From Argentina.
$23CAD.

Inky black, aromas of blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, and smoke. Full-bodied with dark crushed fruit and well-integrated tannins. Moderate finish with blackberry notes. 90 points.

I like Catena's malbecs - however, I think they are dropping the Lunlunta Vineyard designation and are making a generic Malbec now. It is not as good as the Lunlunta.

I had bought this same wine at Mudpuppy's place and went next store to the Thai restaurant to open it up. Good pairing and a good wine. 87 Rev points.

Oh... I'm not sure it was the lunlunta vineyards I had....

I'm very disappointed to hear that they're dropping the Lunlunta bottling. They'll probably just focus on their Alta line which is twice the price - around $50 here for the Alta Malbec.

Deep ruby/purple colour. Aromas of blackberry, cedar, cassis, grilled meat, and vanilla. Full-bodied with big blackberry, cassis, raspberry and vanilla notes. Fresh tasting, present tannins. ~ 30 second finish that was a little astringent. Tossed quite a bit of sediment this time. Stand it up well before decanting. 87 points (11/28/2003).

Not quite as good as previous bottles. Hopefully my last bottle is closer to the first ones I opened as opposed to this example.

Decanted 30 minutes. Tosses a lot of sediment, so stand it up a few days in advance and then decant. Deep inky red colour. Sheets the glass when you swirl, then forms slow, thick, teardrop legs. Very powerful nose with vanilla, cream, oak, blackberry, cassis, raspberry, and black olive aromas. Full-bodied, with lush dark fruits that replay from the nose. Pepper and earthy notes come out with a bit of time. Delicious, lush finish with pepper and blackberry. Drinking really well right now. 91 points. (12/20/2003).

Unfortunately this was my last bottle. Glad it went out with a bang!

Why do you think your last bottle was so much better than your second-last? I still have 2 bottles and want to make the most of them.

bman,

I think there was a bit of bottle variation.

BTW, the 2001 Catena Zapata Malbec is being released in March at $19CAD. There is no longer a Lunlunta Vineyards bottling - this has replaced it.

But I'm excited about the five single vineyard Malbecs that will be released for the 2002 vintage. I just hope they won't be too expensive.

I'm opening my last 00 Catena Malbec bottle today. I'll let you know how it was. I hope it can be as good as your last one, futronic!

Delish. Drinking really well. Mine was also showing a lot of sediments. Deep ruby. Quite ripe fruit, specially blackberry, cherry and raspberry. Strong anise and an elegant vanilla and spice in the back. I got the black olives too. Refined midpalate, medium body. Well integrated, fine tannins, and a good balance with the moderate acidity and alcohol. Nice, enjoyable finish. 92 pts.

I have 1 bottle of this. Futronic, thanks for the heads up regarding the sediment. I will stand this up and drink soon.

IW

No problem IW. This really is a tasty bottle of wine. I hope the 2001 will be good, but from what I understand the more recent vintage isn't quite up to the standard the 2000 presented.

Had the '00 Lunlunta Vyrd malbec from Catena last week, and it was good but not great. After reading the above posts I was prepared to see some sediment. This bottle had a minute amount but not enough to warrant decanting. The color and front end palate were the best part. I thought the finish should have been longer. I was at a birthday party when I opened this and the glassware was mediocre at best. That may have contributed to the fact that I rated it good rather than excellent. I would rate this particular bottle 88pts.

IW