Catena Zapata 2009 Adrianna Vineyard 750ml
(from a 1993 planting on soil rich in chalk; cropped at 15 hectoliters per hectare; 60% new oak): Full, bright yellow-gold. Very ripe stone fruits, hazelnut, vanilla cream and sexy oak spices on the nose. Rich, sappy and deep, with the underlying chalky quality giving the wine superb nervosite and an impression of weightlessness. Stone fruit flavors are complicated by an enticing note of marzipan. With its precise, dry, stony finish, this very concentrated, bracing-yet-silky wine leaves the mouth feeling refreshed. The most promising Argentine chardonnay I've tasted to date, in the style of a grand cru Chablis. The White Stones and White Bones wines are Catena Zapata's new spare-no-expense chardonnays meant to be equivalent to their top vineyard-designated malbecs.
Score: 94+ points
-- Stephen Tanzer, Vinous, Mar 2013