Ratings & Tasting Notes:

99 points James Suckling
Review Date: 02/2022
Fascinating nose of white lavender, lemon, pineapple, green apple, thyme, rosemary, sourdough, almond and oyster shell. It’s medium-bodied with vibrant acidity and a tense, spicy palate. So much flavor and fragrance. Incredibly expressive, with evolving layers of fresh fruit, spices, flowers and herbs. Drink or hold.

99 points Wine Advocate
Review Date: 11/2022
The nose of the 2020 White Bones Chardonnay is an explosion of thyme and rockrose, aromatic, open, expressive, outspoken, showy and exuberant. It also has notes of white flowers and citrus, pine needles and incense, continuously developing new layers, curry, something smoky, more and more aromatic herbs, nuanced, complex and with a magnetic attraction that makes you go back to the glass over and over again. This was harvested all at the same time, whereas it was sometimes harvested over four different moments in the past; so this is a bit different and an extraordinary year for this wine, transcending the conditions of the year, with lower alcohol and pH (12.5% and 3.1) than the 2021, despite coming from a warmer year. This is very tasty and long, stony (more than White Stones!) and very persistent. Amazing juice! 5,760 bottles produced. (LG)

96 points Vinous
Review Date: 08/2022
The 2020 Chardonnay Adrianna Vineyard White Bones from Gualtallary was aged for 16 months in used barrels. Green in the glass. The complex nose presents notes of ginger initially followed by hints of mint, green apple and iodine. The aging process helps to bring out the grape’s flavors. In the mouth, it’s compact with a taut, saline flow, creamy feel and finish in which the flor leaves a dry, cleansing sensation. An enticing wine. (JH)

Cult Wines International Notes:

The 2020 Catena Zapata “White Bones” Chardonnay is an exceptional bottling that stands as one of the New World’s most significant white wines. Sourced from the Adrianna Vineyard—often dubbed the “Grand Cru of South America”—this wine is a pure expression of high-altitude Argentine terroir, marrying the richness of Chardonnay with profound, mineral tension.

Terroir: The White Bones Block

The wine is exclusively sourced from Block 1 of the Adrianna Vineyard, located at nearly 5,000 feet (1,500m) elevation in Gualtallary, Uco Valley, Mendoza. The name “White Bones” refers to the specific soil composition: a thin topsoil layer sitting atop deep deposits of calcareous material, limestone, and fossilized animal bones, remnants of an ancient riverbed. This unique, chalky environment is the key to the wine’s singular character, providing incredible acidity and an unmistakable savory minerality.

Vintage and Winemaking Profile

Despite being a relatively warm year, the 2020 vintage produced a wine of surprising freshness and lower $\text{pH}$ due to precise, single-moment harvesting. Winemaker Alejandro Vigil fermented the Chardonnay in French oak, where it then aged for 12–16 months in used barrels, with a portion undergoing malolactic conversion. Crucially, the wine exhibits a complex, slightly oxidative character and salinity, often attributed to a small degree of aging under a natural veil of flor yeast in the barrel, a technique rarely seen outside of Spain’s Jerez region.

Tasting Notes and Critical Acclaim

The 2020 “White Bones” is immediately expressive and complex. On the nose, it offers an explosion of exotic herbal notes—thyme, rockrose, green apple, and ginger—layered over classic Chardonnay aromas of lemon curd and white peach. The palate is compact, taut, and elegant. It delivers a rich yet restrained mouthfeel, highlighted by vibrant, persistent acidity and a stony, saline finish that seems to linger for minutes. The combination of its powerful fruit concentration and its fierce mineral backbone has earned it near-perfect scores, with critics comparing its structure and elegance to some of the finest Chablis and white Burgundies. This wine is built for evolution and can comfortably age for another decade.

Bottle Size:

750 mL

Storage History:

Always stored on its side in a climate-controlled cellar.

Condition:

Please note: The bottle shown is the exact bottle being sold.

Outstanding condition.