Precioso is an opportunity to explore the most premium expression of each Microterroir.

It is a classic Malbec expression with great fruit depth and spicy complexity from the oak ageing. It delivers many layers of black fruit jam, spices, toast, chocolate and tobacco on the palate, lingering in a beautiful long, savoury finish. This complex and expressive wine is an excellent example of a modern style of Malbec, with bright acidity and a chalky textural palate.

• 94 points | Tim Atkins
• 92 points | Robert Parker

Precioso Cabernet Franc

Precioso Cabernet Franc is an expressive, complex, and bold red wine with elegant oak use. Its expressive profile of abundant plum, blackberry jam, and black pepper, with a soft pyrazine, leather, and smoke undertone, surprises the nose and the palate. It finishes with a dried tobacco and chocolate note from the oak. The tannins are fine-grained and abundant, giving it a luscious texture, perfectly balanced with its vibrant acidity.

Precioso Cabernet Sauvignon

Precioso Cabernet Sauvignon is an expressive, complex, and bold red wine with elegant oak use. Its expressive profile of abundant plum, blackberries jam, leather and smoke surprises in the nose and the palate, finishing with a dried tobacco and chocolate note from the oak. The tannins are fine-grained and abundant, giving it a luscious texture, perfectly balanced with its vibrant acidity.

•  91 points | Robert Parker

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96 points | Decanter

"Made with grapes from pre-phylloxera massal selections of Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec from the Uco Valley, this blend from Catena Zapata Nicolás 2018 was fermented in oak, cement and steel and aged for 18 months in barrels. It has a complex nose of red and dark fruit, sweet spices, notes of Earl Grey tea, gunpowder, cedar, violets and eucalyptus. Broad and free-flowing, the compact core offers fine tannins and intriguing cellar potential."

96 points | Robert Parker Wine Advocate

"The Catena Zapata Nicolás 2018 was produced with 65% Cabernet Sauvignon from Gualtallary (Adrianna vineyard, with the Cabernet Sauvignon interplanted with some Cabernet Franc) and 35% Malbec from Altamira (Nicasia vineyard). They no longer use grapes from Agrelo, and this is also a lot higher in Malbec than in other recent vintages. So, it has a very different profile, a charge that started in 2017, with more contained ripeness and more freshness, and the wine is intense, keeping some of the Cabernet character (tobacco, blackberries) and the floral notes from Malbec. It comes through as balanced and harmonious, with very fine tannins and a long finish and perfect ripeness. This aims to revive the style of Bordeaux before phylloxera, from massal selection of ungrafted vines."

96 points | James Suckling

"Aromas of blackberries, grilled meat, blackcurrants and wet earth. Full-bodied, tight and compact with dense dark berries and currants. Linear and long with a tight, focused palate. A blend of cabernet sauvignon and malbec."

97 points | Wine.com

"The Catena Zapata Nicolás 2018 is a standout wine. TASTING NOTES: This wine delivers aromas and flavors of black fruit, licorice, earth, and oak. Pair it with a grilled, well-marbled ribeye." (Tasted: Wilfred Wong March 23, 2022, San Francisco, CA)

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97 points | Decanter

"The Catena Zapata Nicolás 2016 vintage is a classic example, a superb blend of Cabernet Sauvignon with 31% Malbec and 8% Cabernet Franc that’s still in its infancy. Subdued aromas of cassis, black cherries and nuanced herbaceous and tobacco notes. A lovely fluid entrance builds on concentration and complexity. Malbec’s seductive juiciness joins a vertical Cabernet structure, tannins and integrated oak, with a long, lingering finish. A wine to wait for."

96 points | Robert Parker Wine Advocate

"The Catena Zapata Nicolás 2016 has not been released, and they are going to sell the 2017 before it. This is the one wine, together with the Adrianna Vineyard Mundus Bacillus Terrae Malbec, that is sold through the négoce in Bordeaux for Europe and Asia. This is backward, serious and austere, with terrific balance and great length. This is a blend of 61% Cabernet Sauvignon from Gualtallary and 31% Malbec from Nicasia. There is also some 8% Cabernet Franc that seems to add a touch, and in 2016, it didn’t need irrigation because there was enough rain. This seems to follow the style of the 2013, a little tight, perhaps because of the Cabernets. This is nuanced and complex, with very good integration of the varieties and the oak, fruit, acidity and mineral texture. One of the best vintages for this bottling."

95 points | James Suckling

Catena Zapata Nicolás 2016 is "a rich and flavourful red, showing blackcurrants and tobacco. Full-bodied, soft and fruity with bright and spicy, oyster-shell and fresh-herb character. Serious cabernet blend."

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99 points | James Suckling

An enticing aroma of violets, cherry blossoms, fresh blue and black fruit and great structure define this beautiful, age-worthy wine. Subtle layering of fruit and oak spices between firm, fine-grained and supportive tannins gives it a calm intensity. So elegant and polished. Hints of cinnamon and graphite accent blackcurrant and blueberry flavors that linger and grow in a long finish. Already attractive to drink, but best after 2029.

98 Points | Lisa Perrott-Brown The Wine Independent

The 2021 Opus One is composed of 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot, and 0.5% each of Merlot and Malbec. It was bottled in July 2023. Deep garnet-purple in color, it comes barreling out of the glass with gregarious notions of creme de cassis, wild blueberries, and redcurrant jelly followed by hints of cedar chest, sassafras, vanilla pod, and dark chocolate plus a waft of lilacs. The medium to full-bodied palate delivers shimmery red, black, and blue fruit layers with a firm texture of rounded tannins and impressive tension, finishing long and fragrant.

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It is a classic Malbec expression with great fruit depth and spicy complexity from the oak ageing. It delivers many layers of black fruit jam, spices, toast, chocolate and tobacco on the palate, lingering in a beautiful long, savoury finish. This complex and expressive wine is an excellent example of a modern style of Malbec, with bright acidity and a chalky textural palate.

• 94 points | Tim Atkins
• 92 points | Robert Parker

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The purity of fruit is really something else here, with currants and fresh flowers, such as violets and roses. Flower stems as well. Fantastic length and structure to the wine, with tightness and focus. Wonderful fruit. Graceful. A blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 1% Malbec. Try after 2028. (Dec 2022)

98 points | Decanter

Intensely perfumed on the nose, rose petals, violets, deeply scented and seductive. Rich yet expansive on the palate, very open with dark chocolate, cherries, fragrant blackcurrant - sweet and scented, with satin-like tannins that effortlessly support the flavours. There is a real drive and persistence to this: fresh, youthful and alive with a vibrant juiciness that is so appealing. No one element is too dominant; this feels harmonious and balanced with excellent tangy acidity and a long, minty, herbal finish with edges of tobacco and dark chocolate—a classic Opus with breadth, finesse and energy. Drink 2024 - 2045. (Georgina Hindle, tasted July 2022)

97 points | Jeb Dunnuck

The 2019 Opus One is brilliant and certainly a worthy follow-up to the 2018. Pure cassis fruits, notes of violets, rose petals, and lead pencil, medium to full body, nicely integrated background oak, and terrific tannins all define this beauty, and while it has the vintage's up-front charm, it's going to age beautifully for 20+ years as well. The blend is 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Malbec. Drink 2023 - 2045. (tasted Feb 2023)

18+/20 points | Jancis Robinson MW

Transparent crimson - much paler than the average Napa Cab blend. Heady, complex nose with very many more layers than the Overture launched at the same time, September 2022 on the Bordeaux Place. Hints of tobacco leaf as well as very ripe fruit. Really high toned; this could double as a nasal decongestant, I think. Much more pronouned cassis flavours than the Overture even though the proportion of Cabernet is much lower. Sweet palate entry but a real lift and kick on the finish. No heaviness at all. A little less bordelais than the 2018: richer but not concentrated or overripe in the stereotypical Napa Cab idiom. I'd love to see this blind in a line-up with other Napa Cabs. Tannins very well managed with a tiny chewiness on the very end. You could drink it already, but on past performance one has to believe it has ageing potential. Drink 2022 - 2034. (tasted Sept 2022)

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