Enrique Foster ****Updated****

Two years ago I went to a cigar store in Buenos Aires called Francisco de Miranda. I befriended the owners Fernando and Arnoldo who offered me their house cigar and poured me a glass of wine. I thanked them and took a sip.


That moment shattered a lot of preconceptions I had had about new world wines. I had ignorantly thought there was some form of affirmative action in the wine world which hyped new world wines at the expense of more established European wine produced to a higher standard. Given my recently acquired knowlege of wine it is hard not to feel a twinge of embarrasment at my ignorance. The truth was quite the opposite, with the new world forcing Europeans to get their act together and stop resting on their laurels.


But I digress, because I want to talk about this specific wine which had caused this revelation. The body, the fruit, the balance of oak were superb, even to my inexperienced palate. I knew I was drinking something special. When I asked what Fernando had poured, he showed me the bottle. It was Enrique Foster Malbec Reserva 2003. When it came time to return home, I packed three bottles to share with family and friends.



Because this first trip had a huge impact for me on a personal level, the Enrique Foster label had an important place in my heart.

When I planned my trip, I tried finding information about tours to the vineyard but without success. I checked on the internet after my first trip, their website was under construction and then when it was launched, it didn´t really give much info. Checking back and looking at their new and improved website would have been a good idea. I had decided to settle upon buying a few bottles of Enrique and collect what info I could find on the producer. Also I did not want spend an inordinate amount of time on just one wine in an area with dozens of phenomenal producers.

So I was floored to find out that Carolina (my tour guide) had a cousin who is an administrator at the winery and offered to call her on my behalf. Needless to say I was really excited when she came back and said the tour was all arranged. Enrique Foster NEVER gives tours, but her cousin had offered to show Carolina the winery in the past and she had yet to take her up on the offer. I would pay for the cab, but the tour (including tasting) would be free!!!!

This morning, Carolina picked me up from the hostel at 9:30.

Here is a series of pictures with commentary describing my visit.... Wait a minute! Camera died. Ok, well I´ve been sitting here too long anyway. I will continue this post likely tomorrow.

******Update******

Well, this is the second time I´m writing this update. Yesterday the clerk at the internet cafe shut down my machine and an hour´s work went up in smoke. I can´t tell you how difficult it is to try and stay current with this blog when the quality of the computers, software and staff are so poor. Wow, that sounds elitest. Ah well.

This is Carolina my tourguide who picked me up bright and early at 8:30.

This is me attempting to hide my brutal hang over with a moronic smile and generic affirmative hand gesture. I was running on pure enthusiasm at this point.

The entrance to the vineyard. My excitement mounts....

They had a Security post just inside the gate. This guy was all business before we mentioned Veronica (Carolina´s cousin). After that he was quite affable.

The winery had it´s own vineyard on the property which is a sign of a wine maker´s commitment to quality control.

The blonde is Veronica who spoke imaculate English and was sort of an operations manager according to what she told me (although the title on her card says public relations). Nevertheless she was the perfect tourguide, capable of answering (not to mention understanding) any question I threw her way.

Well once again, I will have to wait until I find a decent computer to work on. My camera is again out of juice. It is a constant struggle against technology down here.