Mendoza, Argentina – October 10, 2019 – The Catena family announces the launch of La Marchigiana, a new range of natural wines that pays homage to the Catena family’s 19th century Italian origins. Created in equal parts as passion project and experiment, these limited-production bottlings of Criolla Chica, Chardonnay, and Bonarda are entirely fermented and aged in tinajas, the traditional clay pots used by winery founder Nicola Catena upon arriving in Argentina from Le Marche, Italy, in the late 1800s. The La Marchigiana range was named in celebration of the women of Le Marche who were devoted to harvesting grapes and caring for the vines as pictured on the label.
“A few years back, Alice Feiring shared her love of Georgia’s natural wines with me,” said Dr. Laura Catena, Managing Director of Bodega y Viñedos Catena. “My father and I both read her book For the Love of Wine and my father told me, ‘Laurita, that’s how my grandfather made wine when he first came to Argentina from Le Marche.’ We even found an old tinaja in a storage space at our winery. As we started experimenting with skin contact and no sulfur addition winemaking techniques, I fell in love with the wines of Criolla Chica, Chardonnay and Bonarda made using these ancient, yet cutting-edge processes.”
Dr. Catena presented the idea of producing natural wines with no added sulfur, long skin-contact fermentations, and aging in clay pots to winemaker Alejandro Vigil and his team. To her delight, everyone was eager to dive into the project, drawn by both the purity and the complexity of the production process. What they found especially interesting about working with these traditional natural winemaking methods was that these techniques were particularly suited to forgotten varieties such as Criolla Chica and Bonarda. Following a series of small tests in 2015 and 2016, there was a vision and a process in place to produce Criolla Chica, Bonarda, and Chardonnay varieties for La Marchigiana with the 2017 vintage and release them to a broader audience.
Criolla Chica was an immediate choice for La Marchigiana given its historical significance in Argentina and its adaptability to this traditional winemaking approach. The grape was brought to the Cuyo region by the Spanish conquistadores in the 16th century and priests used the variety to help evangelize the New World. They made it into wine using amphoras and botijas, and the variety is known to this day as País in Chile and Mission in California. The name of the grape, criolla, is representative of Argentina’s cultural background as it derives from the word crío, used to refer to American-born descendants of European parents.
A genetic match to the Spanish variety Listán Prieto, Criolla Chica is a light-skinned red grape that over the years was used to produce bulk wines of little distinction. Whereas the use of modern-day winemaking techniques for Criolla results in the production of serviceable wines, adoption of natural winemaking procedures yield a quite different result: the time the juice spends macerating in its skins in tinajas ensures that the wine develops a rich texture, while the lack of added sulfur serves to increase the wine’s aromatics as well. Today, these sustainably-grown grapes from the historic Finca Los Paraísos vineyard have a new opportunity to shine, due both to the adoption of natural winemaking techniques, but also from the newfound increased consumer appreciation for fresh and light wines.
The 3000-year-old variety Bonarda also has a long legacy in Argentina as the second most widely planted grape in the country. Bonarda shares Malbec’s French heritage as in the 19th century it was widely planted under the name Douce Noir in the Savoie region. Interestingly, the territory belonged to Italy around the 1850s, so in a way the variety is both French and Italian. Just as the French Malbec was reborn in Argentina, Bonarda, with 20,000 hectares planted in Mendoza, is another grape variety that’s been saved from extinction. The grapes for La Marchigiana’s Bonarda were grown at Finca La Vendimia, an old-vine vineyard surrounding the Catena family home outside of Rivadavia. The Argentine Bonarda makes a rich wine that ripens late in the season, with fruity and intense aromatics, and a silky texture, lighter than Malbec.
Chardonnay has a long tradition in Argentina, coming from France alongside Malbec in the mid-19th century. Nicolás and Laura Catena developed a mutual love for Chardonnay when they tasted the best of California and Burgundy whenever Nicolás visited Laura at Harvard University in the 1980s. Years of planting the variety at high altitudes in Argentina led to the family’s precious single-parcel Chardonnays. When Laura Catena started considering the different varieties for La Marchigiana, she particularly liked the Chardonnay because of its beautiful herbaceousness and texture.
The Criolla Chica and Bonarda grapes were hand-sorted and then received several days of cold maceration before spending two to three weeks fermenting on their skins in the tinajas. Fermentation was completed using only native yeast, remaining in the tinajas for extended aging on the lees—256 days for Criolla Chica and eight months for Bonarda. The winemaking regimen for the Chardonnay was similar to that of the others, although without the skin contact. The only concession to modern technology involved in the winemaking process is that each variety was fermented and aged in new tinajas purchased from Spain, crafted to the same dimensions and specs of the originals.
The colorful La Marchigiana label is based on the original design used by Nicola Catena for the bulk wine offered to Buenos Aires’ brasseries and almacenes in the early 1900s. It not only depicts the family’s roots in Le Marche, but more importantly, highlights the contribution of women to winemaking, particularly his wife Ana Mosceta, who Nicola called his “vine whisperer” because the vineyards would thrive when she planted them. This label has been displayed on the wall in the winery for decades and was a fixture on the barrels Nicola used for storing and shipping his wines.
“I’m thrilled with the wines we produced for La Marchigiana. For me, it’s like having one foot in the world of my great-grandfather and the other in the future,” says Laura Catena. “What’s particularly exciting is that forgotten varieties such as Criolla Chica and Bonarda are so well suited to natural winemaking that they might provide an economic opportunity for the Eastern region of Mendoza, which has suffered given the recent popularity of the Uco Valley.”
The La Marchigiana wines — Criolla Chica 2017, Bonarda 2017, and Chardonnay 2017 — are now available through MundoVino, a division of Winebow Imports.
To request samples, obtain tech information, or to arrange an interview with Dr. Laura Catena, please contact Dan Fredman, dan@danfredman.com or 323.899.9463.
About Bodega y Viñedos Catena
Bodega y Viñedos Catena encompasses the wines produced at the six Catena-family vineyards located in the Maipú, Luján de Cuyo, Tupungato and San Carlos regions of Mendoza, as well as a winery in the Vista Flores district of the Tunuyán region. Adopted by its founder Nicola Catena in 1902, the distinguished name returns the family to its vineyard-centric roots, recalling the principles the winery was founded upon – family, grapes, and place. Bodega y Viñedos Catena includes the winery’s new La Marchigiana natural wine range, as well as the Catena Alta, D.V. Catena, Appellation, and Catena Classic wines.
