There are many ways to describe Alejandro Vigil. He is Chief Winemaker of the Catena Zapata winery where he has been working since 2002; he created El Enemigo Wines in 2013; he is an agronomist and one of the most influential winemakers in the world according to Decanter magazine. In 2018, two of its wines – Gran Enemigo Single Vineyard Gualtallary Cabernet Franc 2013 and Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard River Stones 2016 – were the first Argentine wines to receive 100 Parker points, something like the Nobels or Oscars of the viticulture world that delivers the prestigious publication The Wine Advocate; and since last year he is president of Wines of Argentina (WoFA) founded in 1993 with the mission of promoting the Argentine wine brand throughout the world.
He is also a passionate wine philosopher; a fan of music (especially jazz, although he defines himself as a Ricotero); María Sance’s husband for more than 20 years and father of two teenagers.
News: He had children, planted trees, wrote a book…
Alejandro Vigil: For me that is part of making wine, a while ago we made a solidarity paella for a school and since it was very hot, everyone was under the trees that I had planted 17/18 years ago, I watered them, took care of them and grew up with them , and suddenly I stopped and saw it: that is making wine, it is a beautiful way of life, producing something that expresses itself, watching it grow.
News: And always with family…
Watch: The family is the nucleus, it is a very sanguine issue that for me it has to do with common goals where happiness goes above pain. Pain is there, it exists, ultimately everything ends in death, those who teach us leave but it is the transmission of knowledge that keeps us happy, growing a tomato, making a sauce and sharing it with those we love. Life is made up of those moments of instant happiness, we meet Maria, we dance to the same rhythm and that doesn’t always happen, I’m very lucky.
News: He found the perfect life partners for that…
Watch: I have the idea that they were the ones who found me, they have all saved my life, María was the first and she did it many times, also the Catena family, they have helped me a lot and I thank life.
News: If you hadn’t dedicated yourself to wine, what would you have liked to do?
Vigil: I never had a plan B, I don’t know how to do anything else, I was always going to dedicate myself to making winein a plastic bucket, in a large cellar, but always to make wine.
News: What does wine represent to you?
Vigil: Wine is philosophy, it is a way of life, it is culture, it is how you get up in the morning, live your day and dream at night. It is the reflection of the person you were at the time you made them. Wine can change the world but you have to put your body into it, working we can change the lives of many people, making wine we can change our environment, and our environment is our world, we have to arouse that interest in changing the environment. Finally there will be a change in society, not only in Argentina but in the world.
News: Do you recognize yourself in the wines you made several years ago?
Watch: It is always an issue because you launch a 2018 wine in 2022 and at that time you were different, the world changed, you will never be in tune but that is also good, it makes you relive that moment, of what you are and where you are going. Finally, it is deeper and it has nothing to do with the flavors but with what we are, but that is for those who make wine, for those who drink it, I like it, I don’t like it. That’s why I don’t drink my wines.
News: Never?
Vigil: Yes, for work, for pleasure I drink other wines.
News: Where is Argentina on the wine map?
Watch: We are in an important place, they are watching us, the door has opened and things are happening. We have a long way to go but a long way to go and that is where we have to align the work. We are focused on the terroir that represents our way of life. We are old wine producers in a world that is new to us and old to them, that mix is very strange. We have to show that we are wine producers and we must do it as a block, work collectively.
News: There is a lot of talk about terroir, what does it mean to you?
Watch: Terroir is cultivating and producing those grapes with the centenary experience of a certain place, it is the people transmitting knowledge, we are just a link in that chain where the individual disappears because people are in relation to others. It is to manage to put the landscape in a bottle.
News: Who are our biggest competitors? Australia, South Africa, the United States…?
Watch: I think we have to go out and compete with those of the old world, France, Spain, we can make Burgundy with our eyes, it would no longer be just Burgundy or Bordeaux, it would be Agrelo and Gualtallary, it would be Cepillo and La Rioja, it would be Salta with all its power and the subtlety of Río Negro, we have everything to go to compete and that is the world where I want to be.
News: What does Argentina have to do to grow?
Watch: To grow in volume we have to cultivate in new areas that give us quality and focus on a type of wine that is outside of the international commodity, we have to aim higher.
News: With Malbec or with new strains?
Watch: You have to work from Malbec, which is a tool that allows us to show our landscape through wine, in viticulture everything takes time, you have to adapt to the times of the plant, to who we are, you have to be patient.
News: Paradoxically, the two wines that obtained 100 Parker points are not Malbec
Watch: Yes, these international recognitions help us show that Argentina is not only Malbec but our flag is Malbec. We have almost 50,000 hectares of Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, the vine that follows it has 18,000 planted hectares; there are 15,000 of Bonarda and only 2,000 of Cabernet Franc. Malbec, which is our real possibility of export growth, then you have complements, relatives that allow us to show that diversity that exists in the country that is growing every day. Today we are in 18 provinces and probably in the next few years wines will be produced in almost the entire country.
News: Is that going to be the gateway for other varieties?
Watch: When we grow in other places, the idea of only Malbec will also disappear because there are areas where Albariño will grow much better and in others it will be Nebiolo, so there it will be more real that by areas we begin to be able to show other places, in especially in Buenos Aires and Río Negro, where something very strong occurs.
News: That will also boost tourism
Watch: Yes, Mendoza demonstrated it, the first activity here is oil but the second is already tourism and the third is viticulture. That boosted gastronomy, agriculture, there is growth for everyone.
News: In recent years, Argentine wines have scored excellent, is the world starting to see us as producers of high-end wines?
Watch: Our price/quality relationship is being recognized, you can have a 100-point Argentine wine for US$100, in Napa Valley you would have to pay US$1,500. Also, I saw how the price evolution was in the world, how Bordeaux was drunk and when the prices went up they went to look for wines in Napa and when they went up in Napa they went to look for a Barolo and now the same thing is happening. Sooner or later they are going to arrive here and we have to be prepared to be able to maintain the high quality at a good price.
News: What do you have to have to make wine?
Watch: You don’t have to stop getting excited, lLife is a little simpler than what we were told, emotions are what drive our destiny, where we think about what we are, we have to get into that mud and I love that. I want to convey to my children that there is no need to suffer, the formula is easy, be happy and not screw anyone.
News: Can you imagine elsewhere?
Watch: No, this is my place, my culture, the place I know, where is the river where I played as a boy and made frogs, it is here where my children were born and where I met my wife, where I live, where my father raised me. Making wine is all the circumstances of life, I don’t make wine with grapes, I make wine that has to do with all that, with the things that happen to me. Each label has a little bit of my soul, I’m leaving it there, bit by bit. I don’t make wine, I live.
News: Where would you like to be buried?
Watch: In Mendoza, among the vineyards, in the irrigation water to return to the earth. It is what it is, it is what I am and I love it.
