Dr Laura Catena - Working at Catena Zapata
Old vines for new vineyards
A dedicated but unsentimental advocate for viticultural heritage, Laura Catena discusses the challenges and rewards of Argentina’s old vine Malbec. Keenly aware of the cultural and qualitative value of ancient vineyards, Laura is leading projects to preserve and amplify their genetic material though new vineyards planted from old vine material. “We do not yet know”, she says, “how this genetic material could be the answer to the climate change and diseases of the future. But we do know that we shouldn’t let it disappear.”
Dr. Laura Catena is a fourth generation Argentine vintner, physician and author. Catena was born in Mendoza and spent her childhood with her grandfather Domingo at the family's winery in the small village of La Libertad. Laura graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1988 and has a Medical Doctor degree from Stanford University. In 1995 Laura joined her father Nicolás Catena Zapata at the family winery and founded the Catena Institute of Wine with the vision of making Argentine wines that could stand with the best of the world.
She is currently managing director of Bodega Catena Zapata and works closely with Alejandro Vigil and Luis Reginato to make the vineyard selections and blends for the family's wines. Laura is also founder of her own Luca Winery in Mendoza, Argentina, as well as a practicing part-time physician of Emergency Medicine in San Francisco. Laura splits her time between Mendoza, Argentina and San Francisco, California.
Laura is recognized internationally as the “face” of Argentine wine for her active role in promoting the Mendoza wine region and Argentine Malbec. She is author of Argentina’s definitive wine guide, “Vino Argentino” published by Chronicle Books in 2010. Laura’s second book, Gold in the Vineyards, a beautifully illustrated compilation of the world’s most celebrated vineyards, was released in North America and Europe in March 2020. Originally published in 2017 by Catapulta in Spanish, Portuguese and English, it was voted “Best in the World for Wine History” by the Gourmand Cookbook Awards, and received positive reviews in Forbes, The Washington Post, The Drinks Business, Decanter and The Wine Economist.
Laura has been featured in The Oprah Magazine as one of the World’s Top Women Vintners in October 2010. Her work has appeared in the The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Food & Wine, La Nación, Decanter and The Economist 1843 Magazine in an article about the Catena Institute titled “Argentine Wine’s Premier Cru.”
