Viñedos del Alto Aragón
| Viñedos del Alto Aragón | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Sociedade Anónima (SA) |
| founding | 1991 |
| Seat | Salas Bajas , Spain |
| Branch | Wine |
| Website | www.enate.es |
Viñedos del Alto Aragón is a young manufacturing and trading company for wines that are marketed under the brand name ENATE . The company is headquartered in Salas Bajas , Spain . The wines are continuously at a high level and are regularly awarded at international tastings . 70 percent of wine sales remain in Spain.
The company was founded by the Nozeleda Arenas family, initially with 18 hectares in 1991 . Targeted expansion and professional marketing led the company to the best wineries on the upper Ebro . The great Johnson calls this company as the only one in Aragon with "consistently high quality".
winery
The winery is located in the small wine-growing village of Enate, which belongs to the municipality of Salas Bajas in the DO Somontano . It now has an area of 600 hectares. The average annual production is 3 million bottles.
The production of the winery is limited to white , rosé and red wines :
- White wines: First and foremost, an average of 462,000 bottles of Chardonnay are made , of which the majority of 424,000 bottles, a Joven, under the name 234 . There are also 53,000 bottles of Gewürztraminer . The higher-quality of two expansion variants lies in French oak for six months and has a storage potential of at least five years, while the 234 matures in steel tanks and should be stored for up to three years.
- Rosé: The annual production of rosé, which consists of 100% Cabernet Sauvignon , is 340,000 bottles.
- Red wine: The two most important varieties are the Cuvée Barrica , each made from 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (800,000 bottles ) and the Crianza (620,000 bottles), both of which have a shelf life of 8–9 years. The Merlot-Merlot (18 months, 33,000 bottles) and the Reserva (12 months, 138,000 bottles), each with potential for more than 10 years, are very well known . The Tempranillo Joven has only been on the market since 2010 , and was launched in 2012 with 170,000 bottles. The youthfully designed label corresponds to the impulse buying behavior of younger wine consumers. With 35,000 bottles, the Syrah ranks in the high-price segment , which is certified to have a shelf life of at least 10 years. With less than 10,000 bottles, there is also the Vino de Autor from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, matured in French oak for 18 months , which can age 14 years in the bottle, and the Reserva Especial from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, which is 18 months in French . Oak has been expanded and has a good 15 year potential.
There are four different vineyards:
Enate I
Enate I is located on the right bank on the alluvial soils of the Río Cinca coming from the Pyrenees with a clay-sand mixture at about 350-400 meters above sea level and a slope slightly to the east. From a depth of one and a half meters, a calcareous earth layer begins, which is heavily interspersed with stones. The microclimate is strongly influenced by the east flowing Cinca, which ensures moderate temperatures in summer. The most important variety grown here is the Chardonnay , which, based on plot 234 , gave the wine its name. Merlot is named as the second most important grape variety, which grows the highest quality and most potential wines of the winery especially around plot 90 .
The low nutritional value of the soil and the low growth of the vines limit the yields to a maximum of 4,000 kg / ha. The first vines were planted in 1992. By 1998 the vineyards were expanded to 133 hectares.
Enate II
There is practically no difference between Enate I and Enate II in terms of soil conditions and microclimate.
In 1998, the yields of Enate I were no longer sufficient, so expansion areas were sought. It was considered an important condition that no wine was grown on the future areas in the past 50 years. In addition, the areas should be higher up and facing south so that the culture could not be damaged by the colder north winds. The decision was made for areas at an altitude of 380–480 m north of the village of Barbastro , where 78 hectares were planted in the first two years. Today Enate II covers 218 hectares on 40 different parcels, all of which differ in microclimate and / or soil quality.
Enate II distinguishes between two regions: In Cregenzán near the town of the same name, mainly white wines are grown in the east, Merlot in the middle and Cabernet Sauvignon in the west. The Shiraz grows in the north of the two red wine regions within Cregenzán. The second sub-area is called Alcanetos and extends in the north to the N-123. With 82 ha it is the slightly smaller of the two regions. The stock density here is 4000 compared to 2500 in the other, usually applied viticulture of Enate. More pruning reduces the yield, which leads to similar harvest results as in the other vineyards. With the exception of the Gewürztraminer, all grape varieties are cultivated here on a trial basis to test the higher density of the vines.
Torre Fierro
This cultivated region south of Barbastro has existed since 2004 with an area of 86 ha. Since 2007, the area should be increased by 25 ha. With a very low water permeability, because it consists mainly of gypsum-based soil layers, this is the most fertile vineyard area. Almost at a height of almost 400 meters, the Pyrenees massif is visible from the entire area. The same grape varieties are grown as in Alcanetos .
Salas Bajas
Salas Bajas is an old wine village in Somontano, where Enate laid its foundation stone for wine production since the end of 1991. This is where Jesús Sesé, founding member and viticulture director of Enate, started with 18 hectares that had already been planted in the 1980s. These initially private vineyards thus became the first productive goods of the new society.
The vineyards of Salas Bajas, with a height of up to 500 m, are among the highest in the entire winery. The slightly lower temperatures usually only allow a grape harvest when all other crops have already been harvested. In two special parcels, Planacor and Cadiellos , very high quality both white and red grapes grow, which are used for correspondingly valuable wines.
Wine and art
The huge structure, which is also intended to reproduce the impressions of the landscape inside, comes from Jesus Manzanares, who was born in Madrid and was only 41 years old at the time. The labels on the wine bottles have been designed by well-known artists, such as the Reserva Especial by Rafael Canogar .
Web links
- Homepage enate.es
- Bodega ENATE: On the path to perfection , Wines from Spain / Instituto Español de Comercio Exterior (ICEX) (engl.)
References and comments
- ↑ a b c d e Felipe Montalbán (ed.): Intervinos Guía 2012, Internet Vinos SL, ISBN 978-84-938449-4-3 , pp. 115 and 260-262
- ↑ The Great Johnson , 19th ed., Pp. 388f.
- ↑ a b c d Jesús Sesé, Estanislau Dalmau: Enate's Vineyards . In: enateca, Special Edition , image brochure of the winery, 2000
- ↑ Felizitas Romeiss-Stracke: TourismusArchitektur: Building Culture as a Success Factor Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-503-10607-3 , p. 145
- ^ Rachel E. Grossman: Old Wine in New Buildings . In: ArchitectureWeek.com
- ↑ enate.es, Enate and the art: Labels ( Memento of the original from December 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
