El Enemigo Malbec 2023 - 750ml

94pts Jeb Dunnuck

With a smidgen of Cabernet Franc, the 2023 Malbec is complex and red-fruited, with good acidity, offering medium-bodied weight and a depth and structure well beyond its price point. This is a steal, incredibly well-made, fermented on indigenous yeast before going 15 months in foudre, barrel, and concrete tank. It’s an outstanding varietal wine from Mendoza to drink now through 2033.

92pts James Suckling

Expressive, showing lots of dark cherries, fresh black plums, grilled herbs and subtle spices. Round, juicy and pristine, with medium body and a succulent, fruity finish. Good length. Drinkable now, but can hold for a few more years too.

92pts Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Sourced from Adrianna Vineyard, the 2023 Malbec includes 10% Cabernet Franc and underwent 15 months of élevage in foudre, stainless steel tanks and barrels. As ever, it exudes the region's textbook mix of flora and herbal aromas with the red-fruited backdrop that tends to mark the 2023 vintage, followed by a tensile mouthfeel and a similarly taut, mineral-inflected finish.

Winemaker Notes

Rich and concentrated, it offers aromas of black fruit, cherry and dark berry fruit on the nose followed in the palate by a full-bodied wine with flavors of spice, blackberry, black cherry, pepper and a slight floral character. The finish is elegant and lengthy.

Blend: 90% Malbec, 10% Cabernet Franc

Winery Notes

El Enemigo translates as the enemy. Nodding to the fact that at the end of any journey, most remember only one battle — the one fought within (the original enemy). This is the battle that defines us. The wines of El Enemigo are a tribute to those internal battles that make us who we are, brought to fruition by a winemaker, Alejandro Vigil, and a historian, Adrianna Catena who share a love of wine and reach back in time to capture the era when European immigrants first settled in Argentina. These settlers sought to make wines as fine, and finer, than those of their old homeland. By 1936, Malbec and Petit Verdot were the most widely planted fine varietals in Argentina, their blend considered the ultimate in refinement and aging potential.