Optically active gold-catalyzed ZnTe nanowires have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy, on a ZnTe(111) buffer layer, at low temperature (350 • C) under Te rich conditions, and at ultra-low density (from 1 to 5 nanowires per µm 2 ). The crystalline structure is zinc blende as identified by transmission electron microscopy. All nanowires are tapered and the majority of them are 111 oriented. Low temperature microphotoluminescence and cathodoluminescence experiments have been performed on single nanowires. We observe a narrow emission line with a blue-shift of 2 or 3 meV with respect to the exciton energy in bulk ZnTe. This shift is attributed to the strain induced by a 5 nm-thick oxide layer covering the nanowires, and this assumption is supported by a quantitative estimation of the strain in the nanowires. There is currently a wide-spread interest for semiconductor nanowires (NWs), driven by their potential to constitute suitable building blocks for future nanoelectronic and nanophotonic devices. 1 During the past decade, selenide and telluride II-VI NWs have been extensively investigated for various applications such as nano-pillar solar cells, 2 photodetectors 3 or single photon sources. 4 Among II-VI's, ZnTe based NWs are particularly promising as offering a large range of potentialities. They can be grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) using gold particles as catalyst. They can be efficiently doped electrically. 5 They can also be doped with magnetic impurities, 6,7 while the large difference between the temperatures suitable for the growth of GaAs NWs and for the incorporation of Mn as substitutional impurities makes the growth of (Ga,Mn)As NWs challenging. 8 As (Zn,Mn)Te can be doped strongly p-type so that ferromagnetism appears and transport studies are feasible in 2D, 9 ZnTe-based NWs are attractive for a basic study of spintronics mechanisms in 1D. In addition, CdTe quantum dots can be incorporated and used as a single photon source 10 or as a very sensitive optical probe of the spin properties. 11 A good control and the optimization of the growth conditions are prerequisites to improve the electronic and optical properties of the NWs. We present the MBE growth and the structural analysis of ultra-low density ZnTe NWs and we show that their high crystalline quality allows us to observe micro-photoluminescence (µPL) and cathodoluminescence (CL) emission from single NWs.ZnTe NWs were grown by MBE, using gold particles as a catalyst. A thin layer of gold was deposited on a 500 nm-thick ZnTe(111) buffer layer previously grown on a GaAs(111)B substrate. Gold droplets were formed at 350 • C and the NWs were grown at the same temperature.