Adrianna Vineyard White Stones Chardonnay, Catena Zapata 2014 75cl
White Stones is Catena Zapata's answer to grand cru white Burgundy, and it comes from one very particular place: the Adrianna Vineyard at nearly 1,500 metres in Gualtallary, on a parcel studded with the pale alluvial stones that give the wine its name. This is one of the most studied vineyards in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Catena family planted Adrianna to chase mountain freshness at the extreme, and the results have made this one of Argentina's most collectible whites. The 2014 took a Gold at the Decanter World Wine Awards. Now with a decade in bottle, it sits in a lovely place — the primary fruit softening into something more layered and savoury.
Across its vintages this wine shows a restrained, chiselled character: lemon and Anjou pear lifted by orange blossom, oak that frames rather than swamps the fruit, and a whisper of lees weight. With age you would expect the citrus to deepen toward honey and toasted nut, all of it carried on the electric acidity that high altitude guarantees, running to a long, stony, saline finish. It is precise and mineral, closer to Chablis in spirit than to Napa.
At around £76 this is a bottle for people who take Chardonnay seriously — a wine to decant, discuss and reward with proper glassware. A mature, single-vineyard white of this pedigree is fair value at the price.
How to Serve
Don't serve it too cold — 11–13°C lets the complexity unfurl. A large white-Burgundy-style glass is worth using, and a short decant will wake a wine of this age. Drink now.
Where to Drink It
Noble Rot, whose whole ethos is wines exactly like this. Wiltons on Jermyn Street for old-school Dover sole. Scott's in Mayfair for the best of the shellfish.
Food Pairings
Turbot or halibut in a beurre blanc is the classic route. For something richer, roast poultry with morels lets the wine's savoury, nutty maturity shine.
