Gran Enemigo Gualtallary

El Gran Enemigo Single Vineyard Gualtallary bottle image

Wine Description

Winemaking is spread between the Catena family winery in the Uco Valley and Alejandro's own barrel room in his garden of Chachingo - The Republic - where his young son rides a horse among olive trees and where dogs and chickens share the grounds with the Vigil family and the winery.

Alejandro Vigil
Adrianna
Aleanna Winery
Alejandro Vigil
Chacayes
Concrete Egg with Soil Map
Enemigo Vineyard
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Acclaim
“The 2010 was a hard act to follow, and the 2011 Gran Enemigo Gualtallary Single Vineyard had to fulfill great expectations. There is less color in this 2011 (I popped a bottle of the 2010 for comparison) and more notes reminiscent of Cabernet Franc (Alejandro Vigil harvested even earlier in 2010), because it is mostly Cabernet Franc from a very chalky vineyard in Gualtallary at 1,430 meters altitude that fermented together with a small percentage of Malbec. 50% of the volume was fermented with destemmed Cabernet Franc and full-cluster Malbec. The grapes from the most calcareous soils underwent a carbonic maceration in small bins, and after one week they are pressed and the juice finishes fermenting as if it were a white wine. The texture is very fine and the acidity seems like if it had a timer and shoots a second later than you expect it, creating a small explosion in your taste buds. That provides a very long aftertaste and almost citric flavors with a mineral, almost salty finish. At the end of the day this feels lighter but at the same time more complex than the 2010. If you want to understand what Gualtallary can do, find a bottle of this wine. It's drinkable now, but it should have a long life in bottle. At this quality level the price seems too good to be true.”
— Wine Advocate, Aug 2015
“This is a pure expression of the grape. Herbal notes covered by crunchy red fruit flavors with tension and texture. A refreshing and vivid wine.”
— Decanter, Jan 2016
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Vineyard & Production Info
Soil composition
Deep-Calcareous and Rocky
Training method
Guyot
Elevation:
4,800 feet
Vines/acre:
10,000
Bottles produced of this wine:
3,600
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Winemaking & Aging
Maceration length:
5
Varietal composition:
85% Cabernet Franc, 15% Malbec
Fermentation container:
Barriques
Fermentation temperature:
72 °F
Maceration technique:
Cold Soak Maceration
Type of aging container:
Barrels
Type of oak:
French
Length of aging before bottling:
7 months
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Analytical Data
pH level:
3.6
Acidity:
5.4 g/L
Alcohol:
13.9 %
Dry extract:
31 g/L
Residual sugar:
2.1 g/L