AT BODEGA CATENA ZAPATA, LAURA CATENA CARRIES HER FAMILY’S LEGACY OF WINEMAKING TO NEW
ALTITUDES OF INNOVATION.
Dr. Laura Catena was never meant to stay in wine. The
Stanford-trained physician had carved out a life in
emergency medicine in California when the tug of her family’s century-old winery—and the chance to help place Argentine wine on the global map—pulled her back home. Today, Catena is the managing director of Catena Zapata, a fourth-generation vintner and one of the driving forces
behind the transformation of Malbec from a regional
staple into a collectible, age-worthy wine sought out by sommeliers and collectors alike.
“I came to wine to help my family,” Catena said. “Then I fell in love with it.”
Founded in 1902 by her great-grandfather Nicola Catena, Catena Zapata has become synonymous with high-altitude viticulture and Argentine pride. Her father, Nicolás Catena Zapata, revolutionized the country’s wine industry in the 1990s by planting vines at extreme elevations in the Andes and benchmarking Argentine wines against the best of Bordeaux and Napa.
But Laura Catena isn’t content to rest on legacy. Her goal now is bolder: to make Argentine wines as essential in global collectors’ cellars as any first-growth Bordeaux. “We have more 100-point wines than any winery in South America,” she said. “But I want our wines to be on every fine wine list, in every serious cellar.”
At the center of this mission is the Adrianna Vineyard, located nearly 5,000 feet above sea level. Its plots—such as White Stones, White Bones and Mundus Bacillus Terrae—
have drawn near-mythic praise from critics. The high elevation, limestone soils and cool climate create wines of structure, elegance and striking minerality.
“My father took a risk,” Catena said. “Everyone thought it was
too cold. But the wines sing.”
She works alongside chief winemaker Alejandro Vigil and the team at the Catena Institute of Wine, the winery’s scientific research arm, founded in 1995. Their work—ranging from soil microbiology to climate adaptation and preserving ungrafted, genetically diverse vines—is as ambitious as any in the world of wine.
“Argentina is like a 2,000-mile-long science lab,” she said. “We’re exploring new regions, preserving old vines, and asking how we make the best wine possible without harming the land or our communities.”
Sustainability is deeply ingrained in Catena’s philosophy. From conserving water in glacier-fed vineyards to supporting rural education and housing, Catena Zapata’s approach to winemaking is as social as it is scientific.
That sense of responsibility extends to the storytelling on the label itself. The Malbec Argentino, one of the winery’s most iconic wines, uses four female allegorical figures to depict the history of the grape—from Eleanor of Aquitaine to an Argentine mother figure portrayed by Catena’s own daughter.
“Wine is cultural,” Catena said. “It’s memory, history, joy.”
While the winery’s top reds like Nicolás Catena Zapata and Nicasia Vineyard Malbec routinely earn 96+ scores, Catena is also focused on proving the ageability of Argentine whites. The White Stones and White Bones Chardonnays from Adrianna Vineyard have already drawn comparisons to Grand Cru Burgundy.
In her former life as a doctor, Catena delivered care in
moments of crisis. Today, she delivers something else
entirely: pleasure, heritage, and a profound sense of place. And while she may no longer wear a stethoscope, she still talks like a physician—measured, confident, always thinking about the long game.
“To me, wine is about longevity,” she said. “We’re building something that can last generations.”
