Luca

Luca's story cannot be told without explaining who Laura Catena, the creator of Luca, is. She's a centipede. Not only does she run the family business and largest winery in Argentina, Bodega Catena Zapata, she also founded the Catena Institute of Wine, which conducts extensive research into the history, diversity and future of Argentine wines. As if that weren't enough, she's also a doctor. Before following in her father's footsteps, she studied medicine at Stanford and Harvard University. She can still be found part-time at the San Francisco hospital.

Laura Catena has made her mark on the wine world and is often referred to as 'the face of Argentine wine' because she has meant a lot to the country. She recently presented her 100-year plan: "I want every collector in the world to have Nicolás Catena Zapata in their basement - that's my dream".

Another of Laura Catena's dreams was to create Luca, named after her eldest son. She wants to make quality wines with Luca, in which the perfect terroir, low yields per hectare and state-of-the-art winemaking are the keywords. The vineyards of Luca are located at an altitude of 900 to 1500 meters and are among the highest in Mendoza. Old vines can be found here, which may no longer produce much, but keep the quality of the vineyard (and therefore the wines) high. She wants to show the best expression of each grape variety. Luca has planted six grape varieties in total: chardonnay, malbec, pinot noir, syrah, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc.