Description
Sheila’s Remarks: Of all the lovely wines we sampled on our visit to Catena this summer, this was the standout.
That’s a similarity James Suckling and I share!
This wine is floral, exuberant, with lengthy smooth tannins, and metallic notes.
This cuvée takes its name from a small parcel of the Adrianna Vineyard that is completely covered with oval white stones and was the site of an ancient riverbed. The abundant stones provide optimal drainage and extreme temperatures. They absorb heat and moderate the nights, but also function like ice cubes after a very cold night. Stony soil Malbecs tend to be extremely aromatic, rich and luxurious, just like the River Malbec from Adrianna. This wine can be enjoyed young or aged for decades.
Pair with grilled meats.
Wine Advocate
- wa99
The old River Stones has seen its name simplified to 2019 Adrianna Vineyard River. This is an exceptional vintage for this bottling, from a very stony part of the large Adrianna Vineyard in Gualtallary, close to the dry river. It’s the equivalent to the White Stones white, with a north-facing exposure, the warmer exposure, which in cooler years like 2019 works nicely. The wine has harmony and subtleness, insinuating violets and wet stones, with a rare combination of power and elegance, with minerality and spice, precise, focused and harmonious. The tannins are abundant but very fine and ripe with a chalky sensation in the finish. It has 13.8% alcohol and very good freshness, acidity and healthy parameters. 5,520 bottles were filled in December 2020.
James Suckling
- js98
So bright and aromatic with flowers and blackberries, as well as some black olives. Full-bodied with lots of tannins, yet they are so fine and integrated and spread across the palate. This is all whole-cluster fermentation and 18 months in large oak casks. Needs about four or five years to come together.
Vinous
- v97
The 2019 Malbec Adrianna Vineyard River Stone comes from a parcel off the Adrianna Vineyard in Gualtallary, planted at an altitude of 4,400 feet in a dried river bed. Aged for 20 months in new and used French barrels, it is a rich purple in the glass thanks to the intense sunlight. The nose offers plum, sour cherry and blueberry with herbs, lavender, hints of balsam and oaky aromas such as cedar and sandalwood. The compact palate has fine, taut tannins; more lean than muscular overall. This is a balanced and remarkably energetic high-altitude wine, all solar energy, concentrated soils and the untrammeled freshness that comes with a cool region.
Joaquin Hidalgo, November 2021
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.