LAURA CATENA Argentina’s Wonder Woman Written by Bonnie Graves
It’s rare and kind of cool when a woman becomes virtually synonymous with a given wine region; in an industr y traditionally dominated by men, these female leaders in positions of visibility help to encourage a rising generation of women in the field. In the Champagne region of France, business-savvy women like the widows Clicquot and Laurent-Perrier normalized women in decision-making roles in the 19th century. Today that tradition continues with women running several of the top grande marque houses. Argentina also has a wonder woman, but instead of a widowed dowager inheriting her husband’s business interests, this one is a practicing medical doctor with an impressive educational background all her own. Laura Catena may have been born into one of Argentina’s most storied wine-producing families, but her energy and her vision have revitalized the family business in a truly impressive way. Currently serving as Managing Director of Bodega Catena Zapata, Laura also manages her own winery in Mendoza called Luca while somehow working part-time as a pediatrician in San Francisco. That’s quite a commute for a busy mother of three! 56 slmag.net
The Catena wines are in many ways emblematic of the history of Argentina’s wine industry and its early dependence on immigrant labor. Because so much of the vineyard work was undertaken by Spaniards and Italians with a healthy daily consumption habit consistent with their homelands, Argentine wine production initially was more about quantity than quality. Frankly, it was anonymous wine sold in bulk, and that’s a reputation that is hard to shake once entrenched in consumers’ minds. (See that more recent cautionary yellow tale that helped drive Australia’s mono-variety shiraz boom down deep into the discount racks.) Founded by Laura’s great-grandfather Nicola Catena, an immigrant from the Marche region of Italy, Catena Zapata’s first vineyard was planted near Luján in the Mendoza Valley in 1902. Malbec, known then as la uva francesa, was popularized by Michel Aimé Pouget, who touted the grape’s prodigiousness on the vine. Production among these early industrial “smokestack” wineries in the region ramped up, and by just 1915, Argentina had already become the 6th largest producer of wine in the world. It would fall to Laura’s dad, Nicolás Catena, the grandson of Nicola, to change Catena from a forgettable volume player to a brand that has firmly established Argentina as a fine wine player.
