Agrelo - Luján de Cuyo

In 1902, Nicolás Catena, an Italian immigrant, planted his first vineyard in Mendoza, Argentina. This winery has been in the hands of the Catena family for three generations. In the last two decades Nicolás Catena and his team of enologists and agriculturists studied the different microclimates and soil in the high altitude wine-producing regions of Mendoza in order to determine the most suitable areas and wine-making techniques for the Malbec, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon varieties. Constant experiments are carried out with the varieties just mentioned and others as well. Nicolás Catena believes that the high altitude wineproducing regions of Mendoza (between 900 and 1,500 m above sea level) are unique in the world and that the organically poor soil of the region, big temperature range, low humidity, and occasional rains are the ideal conditions to produce high quality wines that can compete with the best wines in the world. At present Nicolás Catena is considered a pioneer in the production of high quality wines. In 2001, he inaugurated a winery inspired by the Mayan architecture. The winery is equipped with state-ofthe- art technology and it is located in the Agrelo district, at an altitude of 900 m., in the heart of the 18-year-old Uxmal vineyard.

It was designed to represent the terrain of Mendoza and achieves Nicolás Catena's goal of placing Argentinean wines at a high position on the international market. Nicolás Catena, who is an avid student of history, chose a pyramid construction for the winery as he considers the Mayan culture to be the most advanced example of the Pre-Colombian America.