My sister is throwing a birthday party for me and a cousin and I, of course, need to choose a wine that will safeguard a modicum of oenological propriety. So last night Marcia and I tasted the two highest level Catena wines we could find for under $30. Since we’ve had the Catena Malbec several times but never tried the Amancaya, we tasted them blind to reduce bias.
2006 Catena Malbec 14% (US price $12/Brazil price $26)
Dark plum color. Simple nose of cherry, oak and alcohol. Good acidity, solid but simple fruit, with a touch of green stems. After some brie, chocolate notes come through. Simple but pleasurable, with good balance and body. I have poor olfactory memory, but this was clearly the Catena Malbec, not only because of some déjà-vu but also because of the relative straightforwardness that I would expect from a monovarietal without particularly exceptional terroir. Good food wine, good choice at a restaurant, but not particularly noteworthy on a stand-alone basis. Aged 12 months in a mix of French and American oak.
2006 Amancaya 14% (US price $14/Brazil price $28)
Dark plum color. More lively nose of blackberry, glue and alcohol. Velvety, complex and elegant in the mouth, clearly more Bordeaux like and therefore clearly the Amancaya. After some cheese, it became thinner, seeming to lose mid-palate compared to the Catena, and ended with a tart note. But it evolved gracefully in the glass and ended with a classy cedar note. Perhaps this is a little less robust than the Catena so that its superiority becomes less apparent with food, but it seemed to both of us clearly the better wine on a stand-alone basis. At $14, I would definitely call this a steal. Amancaya is a blend of 50% cabernet and 50% malbec and is produced by Bodegas Caro, a joint venture between Catena Zapata & Château Lafite-Rothschild. Aged 12 months in French oak, 15% of it new.
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