It was a great honour to have Dr Adrianna Catena host a masterclass for us at 67 Pall Mall last month, presenting the first wines from her and Alejandro Vigil’s exciting new venture El Reventón in Gredos (the fabled vineyard previously owned by Spain’s cult winery Commando G), alongside bottles from their groundbreaking high altitude El Enemigo vineyards in Mendoza and classics from her family's Catena Zapata estate.
The wines were diverse in style but unified by quality. We were first treated to Chablis-like extreme altitude Chardonnay from the iconic Adrianna Vineyard, alongside the fascinating Torrontés from Gran Enemigo. We then hopped over to the high mountains of Sierra de Gredos overlooking Madrid to re-taste the epic El Reventón 2022, sourced from a single hectare of biodynamically-farmed, 90-year old Garnacha vines at 900m elevation, planted on a rare plateau of slate-rich soils has much more in common with Cote de Nuits Pinot Noir or Northern Rhone Syrah. This beauty is now available by the bottle inc VAT.
Back to Argentina, the Catena Zapata 2020 Malbec is a benchmark wine and from the original estate founded by Adrianna's pioneering father Nicolas. We then finished the masterclass with three reds from the Gran Enemigo: the As Bravas Malbec 2016, sourced from the Cordón El Cepillo vineyard and a breathtakingly pure Malbec with just 12.5% ABV; the 2019 Gran Enemigo Red Blend, one of Argentina's ultimate blends; and the Gran Enemigo Gualtallary, a region that will be familiar to many Club Members as the first "Grand Cru" of Argentina, a terroir Adrianna shares with our dear friends PerSe. The altitude here reaches as high is a staggering 1500m above sea level.
We are thrilled that Adrianna has made available a small allocation of each of the wines from the tasting, which come with my highest personal recommendation, especially in context of the prices which need to be seen to be believed! All the wines are in the UK and available for duty paid delivery as preferred.
Available for delivery in October, 2024