Laura Catena is part of the family of winemakers of Bodega Catena Zapata in Mendoza. She has helped elevate her family name to one synonymous with great wine, and has initiated the project that has created the expressive Luca wines. From her home in San Francisco, she spoke with Sylvia Jansen for The Cellar Door.
Sylvia Jansen: You are such a fascinating person! You are a respected physician, a revered winemaker, and a passionate advocate and ambassador for your home country. Can you tell us about the path that brought you to these impressive, and varied, accomplishments?
Laura Catena: I did not start out thinking that I would work in the family business at all. In Argentina, the business of winemaking is a man’ s world. When I was a kid, the people working in the winery were my father and my grandfather. Both my grandmothers were teachers, and my mother has a degree in economics, so everybody went to school— but it was the men doing the business. I spent a lot of time with my father and my grandfather in the vineyards, and my father is the most non-sexist person I have ever known. In our family, there was no doubt that my brother and I would have the same opportunities.
I never intended to go into the family business; when I was in college, I studied biology because I was fascinated by evolution. I did a lot of volunteer work, so medicine seemed like the perfect profession for me: I love being a doctor and helping people.
I started sharing the love of wine with my father when he would visit me at college. We used to go to restaurants, and he would order the best wine on the list, and we would drink it together! Once I was in medical school I started going to wine tastings. I would have gone to your store once a week if I had been going to school and living in Manitoba! You and I would have become great friends.
Laura Catena( photo courtesy of Bodega Catena Zapata)
the heights of innovation:
Laura Catena
An interview by Sylvia Jansen, Sommelier( ISG, CMS), CSW
I got interested in wine as something I would share with my father. He would come and ask me about my research. I was doing my thesis on Alzheimer’ s at Harvard in my undergrad. He would tell me about his research in highaltitude vineyards, and we would drink wine. Still, I had no intention of going and working with him. Little by little, I would do an event here and there. It really changed when I had my first child, Luca. All of a sudden, family tradition becomes even stronger. All of a sudden you say,“ I am following my father’ s legacy, and now I have a legacy as well.”
What we were doing in Argentina was so cutting edge. When we released the first $ 20 Malbec, most people had not even heard of Malbec, let alone a Malbec / Cabernet blend that was $ 100. There were no South American wines at those prices. I realized that we were breaking new ground. It was so revolutionary.
When I first started working with my father, I was like an apprentice. It took a couple of years. I wanted to practice medicine, and I am still, but my core job is with the winery.
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