Mariano Zelada
La Cabernet au Carré 2023
About the producer — Mariano Zelada →
Gaillac, France · 0.75L
- Vintage
- 2023
- Format
- 0.75L
- Custody
- Bonded storage
Held privately in professional bonded storage. Recorded, not offered. Enquiries by request.
Enquire about this bottle →Why this Mariano Zelada La Cabernet au Carré 2023 matters
Mariano Zelada works at a scale where each bottling is closer to a private act than a commercial release — quantities small enough that the wines tend to circulate through direct allocation and quiet introductions rather than open retail. For bottles like this, provenance is not a premium; it is most of the identity the bottle has outside the producer’s own cellar book. This record — storage, custody, condition — is what allows the bottle to be trusted by anyone who was not in the room.
Bonded storage · custody documented · Recorded, not offeredWhy this bottle matters
La Cabernet au Carré is not kept here as a market name. It is kept as a beginning: a Cabernet-based Gaillac from a producer whose project is still being written. The interest lies in that tension — a familiar grape, an unfashionable place, and a bottle bought directly before any wider verdict has formed.
Why this bottle matters
Mariano Zelada is an Argentine winemaker from Buenos Aires who trained at Geisenheim, worked cellars in Germany, Italy, Argentina and Burgundy, spent years as assistant winemaker at Rock Ferry in New Zealand, and founded his own label in 2020 — two vintages in Rheinhessen before settling in Gaillac, in southwest France, drawn by its limestone. La Cabernet au Carré is exactly what its name says: Cabernet squared — Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon from the limestone slopes of Gaillac, hand-harvested, biodynamically farmed, spontaneously fermented and raised nineteen months in used wood, bottled unfiltered. In his German importer's reading, the point of the wine is contrast: next to Bordeaux it runs fresher, more mineral, more energetic — dark Cabernet fruit, tobacco and southern herbs on a limestone spine.
Cellaring perspective
Cabernet on limestone with nineteen months of quiet élevage is built to age on acidity rather than mass; the frame suggests a graceful decade for a bottle kept cool and still. The real scarcity is structural: a one-man project, farmed by hand, made in quantities that never reach open distribution. Bought directly from the winemaker — the shortest chain of custody there is.
From the same cellar
About this bottle
Is this Mariano Zelada 2023 authentic and how is its provenance documented?
This Mariano Zelada, La Cabernet au Carré 2023 0.75L is held in professional bonded storage with documented custody. Its provenance is recorded from acquisition, the bottle remaining in professional custody, and condition is noted. The Empty Drops is a private cellar, not a reseller, and never invents data about a bottle.
How is the bottle stored and shipped?
The bottle is kept in temperature-controlled bonded storage and is not moved unless shipping is requested. It is recorded privately, not offered publicly; it can be released through CruTrade on request.
What does the fill level and condition tell you about this bottle?
Condition is read from the fill level (ullage), capsule and label rather than taken on faith. A bottle that has stayed in professional custody since acquisition avoids the usual weak points — heat, movement and broken records.
Where can I buy Mariano Zelada, La Cabernet au Carré 2023 0.75L?
Mariano Zelada, La Cabernet au Carré 2023 0.75L is recorded privately in this cellar and is not offered publicly. When a bottle is released it is handled through CruTrade, where condition and custody are documented. To ask about availability, price or a similar bottle, make a private enquiry.