Enate
Enate: Where Art & Wine Become One - Art is universal and so is Enate. The essence of the winery, locked into every drop and printed on every label. Enate and art come together at a lofty point: the desire to create. When it began in 1992, the winery decided that the pairing of winemaking and contemporary culture would be an essential feature of its character.
Enate began a contemporary art collection, bringing together works by Spanish and international artists. Since then, each of their wines has been associated with a well-known painter, with a work painted specially for our winery appearing on the label. Antonio Saura, a Spanish painter based in France for a much of his life, was the first artist to decorate one of our bottles: the Chardonnay Barrica. In time, this work has become one of the symbols identifying Enate.
It was, in fact, a desire to create. In the same way as a winery is unthinkable without wine, Enate accepted art as the very essence of its identity. The two concepts begin together and mutually enrich one another. Human beings are, essentially, creators of one kind or another and we naturally love the pleasures of life. In 1992, Enate made a formal commitment to pairing the two concepts, contrasting the almost mathematical expertise of a winemaker with the unpredictability of artists inspired by winemaking. Today, Enate is both a winery and a museum. It is both a wine shop and an art gallery and its character has been formed in the excellence of both. Its barrels and walls sum up the great wines of Spain, inhabited by the genius of the great Spanish and international creators.
All Enate’s vineyard plots are in municipalities belonging to the D.O. Somontano in the province of Huesca. Somontano’s special conditions mean it is an excellent place for vine-growing, due to: a big temperature difference between day and night during the ripening of the grapes (which ensures slow ripening); sandy loam texture of the soil, permeable to water and pure water from the melting of the snow in the Pyrenees. They work with the following grape varieties from these vineyards: the white grapes of Gewürztraminer and Chardonnay and the red grapes of Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah.
At Enate, they understand that the quality of our wines begins with the land, in the vineyard. They have 450 hectares of their own vineyards, allowing them to control and guarantee the quality of their grapes and vines. This high-quality vine-growing is based on four essential points. Low production per hectare: ENATE’s yield per hectare is below the limits established by the Governing Council of the Somontano Designation of Origin. This allows them to ensure balanced vegetation on the vines for better quality grapes. Maximum respect for the environment: They do not use herbicides or synthetic chemical products against pests or disease. Instead they carry out preventive treatments with natural products. The fertiliser for the soil is exclusively organic, with manure. Precision vine-growing: they meticulously control all aspects related to the vineyards. Excellence in the grape harvest: thanks to intensive monitoring of the ripening of the grapes, the best possible dates and times for each kind of wine are chosen for the harvest. In this way, they ensure that the grapes are as healthy as possible, with a complete absence of vine shoots and leaves. They are transported with maximum care in stainless steel trailers and in a short time, always less than an hour, to prevent damaging the bunches and the grapes.
The winery’s modern facilities occupy an area of 12,000 m2. Of this, 1,500 m2 house 4,000 barrels (70% French oak and 30% American oak) and 3,200 m2 are set aside for bottle aging, with capacity for more than 4 million units. The most modern materials suitable for the production process were chosen for its construction.
