Cabernet Sauvignon Nicolas Catena, Bodega Catena Zapata 2006

The 2006 Nicolas Catena Zapata is composed of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Malbec and spent 26 months in new French oak. It displays a superb perfume of pain grille, spice box, truffle, wild flowers, black cherry, and black currant. Rich, layered, dense, and complex, it, too, combines elegance and power. The wine is structured for the long haul and should easily see its 25th birthday, with 50 not out of the question. There is no track record, and I won't be around to find out.

The nose has a fruit salad of flavours, very black fruit dominated but there is some red cherry refreshing. Rounded tannins give flesh and suppleness on the mid palate, the ripeness of the fruit ensuring sensual lushness towards the back.