At the end of the journey, we remember only one battle: the one we fought against ourselves, the original enemy, the one that defined us.

Alejandro Vigil was the “enfant terrible” of his family. He left school at the age of 14 to join a wine cooperative but chose to continue studying at night so as not to upset his mother. He graduated top of his class in agricultural engineering and, at 27, became head of the soils division for the National Research Institute (INTA).

Alejandro has been Chief Winemaker of Bodega Catena Zapata since 2002, receiving the first 100 point score awarded to a South American wine by Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate (CZ River Stones 2016), and the highest rating ever given to a pure Cabernet Franc (Gran Enemigo Gualtallary 2013). He also holds the first 100pt. score for an Argentine Chardonnay from James Suckling (CZ White Bones 2018).

Alejandro lives with his wife and children in what he likes to call The Republic of Chachingo: a rural village in Mendoza where neighbors make wine together and farm the land collectively.