Ernesto Catena Vineyards

The Free Bacchus Story

Ernesto Catena is the son of Nicolás Catena, whose family has made wine in Mendoza for more than a hundred years. Before wine he worked as a designer, and the gate of his farm at Vista Flores carries the motto behind all his projects: Wine is Art! He makes the wines with his wife, Joanna Foster, and the winemaker Alejandro Kuschnaroff.

Vista Flores is in Tunuyán, in the middle of Mendoza's Uco Valley, with vines here at around 3,500 feet. Malbec is Argentina's grape, soft and plummy from the warmer lowland vineyards and fresher up in the Uco. Syrah is the grape of France's northern Rhône, darker and more peppery, and much less common in Argentina. Tikal Natural puts the two together.

The estate was laid out to be seen from the air. The vineyards run in a great circle, a rose garden stands for the sun, and a labyrinth of Malbec vines leads to a giant Mayan serpent. Llamas, donkeys, horses and sheep roam 20 hectares of woodland kept for them, and the soil has had no agrochemicals since the farm began. Demeter certifies Finca Vista Flores as a biodynamic farm and winery, and its grapes have been on the US organic register since 2013. Those certificates cover Vista Flores only. Other Tikal wines come from elsewhere: Tikal Amorio, for one, is Malbec from two sites in Paraje Altamira that are on no register Free Bacchus could find.

Tikal Natural is the Vista Flores wine: 60% Malbec and 40% Syrah from vines about 20 years old, kept mostly in stainless steel, with about a third aged in French oak. James Suckling scored the 2023 at 94 points.