Winemaker Notes
El Gran Enemigo SV Gualtallary shows a deep purple color with red highlights. Its aromas are intense and elegant. Cabernet Franc brings sweet spices, black pepper and light notes of eucalyptus and thyme. Malbec brings notes of ripe black fruits, blackberries and black cherries. The oak aging gives a touch of chocolate and vanilla to blend. The taste is complex, sweet impact with structured tannins, and a very long and persistent finish. This wine was made in honor of the old Pomerol style where Cabernet Franc was blended with the other Bordeaux varieties.
This wine is excellent with grilled meats and various cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A perfumed and significant red on the nose with crushed blackberries, currant bush and rose petal. Full body, fresh herbs, dense fruit and a racy finish. Very powerful.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I also tasted the 2014 Gran Enemigo Gualtallary Single Vineyard, which might take some months to come into the market. It has some balsamic aromas, medicinal hints, traces of orange peel, saffron and a touch of sweet spices. It's built around very fine tannins and a notable core of acidity that acts as backbone, giving it length and lifting up the finish. This is quite in line with the 2010 vintage, with power and freshness in a rare combination of clout and elegance only the very best wines manage to show.
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Decanter
A vibrant, opulent and very stylish example with a complex earthy, mineral, cassis, blueberry and cinnamon nose and taste, plus well-integrated oak. Drink through to ca. 2028.
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Wine Spectator
Dense and powerful, with notes of iron and underbrush to the dark currant, black olive and raspberry flavors, backed by juicy acidity. Cocoa powder details fill in the suave finish. Drink now through 2022.
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Wine & Spirits
Alejandro Vigil aged this wine in 100-year-old barrels that he brought over from Alsace, believing they’d complement the spice of cabernet franc. In fact, this is enticingly aromatic, notes of violets, roses, and leather giving the juicy fruit lots of detail. It’s a pretty franc, gentle and earthy.
The wines of El Enemigo are a tribute to those internal battles that make us who we are. Winemaker Alejandro Vigil and historian Adrianna Catena reach back in time to capture the era when European immigrants first settled in Argentina. These settlers sought to make wines as good as or finer than those of their old homelands. By 1936, Malbec and Petit Verdot were Argentina’s most widely planted varietals, and their blend was considered the ultimate in refinement and aging potential.
Enemigo thrives in the thrill of experimentation and delights in the new and unconventional. It was born from a desire to carve a unique path and a shared obsession with terroir—each bottle an unfettered song to the wild, free-spirited soul. The wines reflect the freshness and character of each individual vineyard: a pure expression of terroir.
Cabernet Franc, a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon, is the subtler and more delicate of the Cabernets. Today Cabernet Franc produces outstanding single varietal wines across the wine-producing world. Somm Secret—One of California's best-kept secrets is the Happy Canyon appellation of Santa Barbara. Here Cabernet Franc shines as a single varietal wine or in blends, expressing sumptuous fruit, savory aromas and polished tannins.
By far the largest and best-known winemaking province in Argentina, Mendoza is responsible for over 70% of the country’s enological output. Set in the eastern foothills of the Andes Mountains, the climate is dry and continental, presenting relatively few challenges for viticulturists during the growing season. Mendoza, divided into several distinctive sub-regions, including Luján de Cuyo and the Uco Valley, is the source of some of the country’s finest wines.
For many wine lovers, Mendoza is practically synonymous with Malbec. Originally a Bordelaise variety brought to Argentina by the French in the mid-1800s, here it found success and renown that it never knew in its homeland where a finicky climate gives mixed results. Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot and Pinot Noir are all widely planted here as well (and sometimes even blended with each other or Malbec). Mendoza's main white varieties include Chardonnay, Torrontés, Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.