Estiba Reservada
⏳ Drinking Window
Typically best enjoyed 10–30 years from vintage release.
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Grilled ribeye steak, roasted rack of lamb, slow-braised venison.
✨ Technical Specifications
Catena Zapata’s Estiba Reservada is one of Argentina’s most legendary and elusive cult wines. Originally conceived in the early 1990s as a private reserve for the Catena family's personal cellar—hence the name 'Estiba,' which refers to the cellaring or stacking of bottles—it was created by Nicolás Catena Zapata to prove that Mendoza could produce a Cabernet-based blend capable of rivaling the greatest Châteaux of Bordeaux. Sourced primarily from the historic, clay-loam soils of the La Pirámide vineyard in Agrelo, situated at an elevation of nearly 1,000 meters, this wine is celebrated for its remarkable structure, elegance, and longevity. It undergoes meticulous parcel selection, traditional fermentation, and extended aging in French oak barrels. Shrouded in prestige and produced in highly limited quantities, Estiba Reservada remains a benchmark of Argentine winemaking history, highly coveted by collectors worldwide.
🍾 About the Producer
Founded in 1902 by Italian immigrant Nicola Catena, Bodega Catena Zapata is the preeminent pioneer of modern Argentine viticulture. In the 1980s and 1990s, third-generation visionary Nicolás Catena Zapata revolutionized the domestic industry by venturing into extreme high-altitude Andean terroirs, most notably planting the famed Adrianna Vineyard in Gualtallary at nearly 1,500 meters above sea level. Today directed by Dr. Laura Catena and celebrated winemaking director Alejandro Vigil, the estate pairs rigorous micro-terroir research through the Catena Institute of Wine with precision viticulture across alluvial, limestone-laced gravel soils. Fermentations frequently incorporate whole clusters and indigenous yeasts, vinified in concrete, oak foudres, and French barriques to preserve freshness, structural nuance, and site-specific tension. Benchmark bottlings such as the flagship Nicolás Catena Zapata, Adrianna Vineyard Mundus Bacillus Terrae Malbec, and Adrianna Vineyard White Stones Chardonnay stand as global archetypes of high-elevation South American fine wine.
🍇 Grapes
Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec
🍷 ABV
13.5-14%