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Gran Enemigo Gualtallary 2011

El Enemigo 2010.jpg
Set in the foothills of the Tupungato volcano, one of the highest peaks of the Andes, Gualtallary is now recognised as one of Argentina’s best wine-growing regions.  The cool, breezy climate, wide range in temperature and chalky, rocky soils gives exceptionally healthy grapes and wines of good structure and acidity.
  • The winemaker of Catena Zapata, Alejandro Vigil began his own project here with Adrianna Zapata, focusing on making unusual, often experimental, wines under the “El Enemigo” label - a reference to “the enemy in ourselves, the one stopping us from trying something different - something extraordinary.”
The twist here is the wines are not based on the more widely-planted Malbec or Cabernet Sauvignon, but instead on Cabernet Franc.  A major component in Saint Emilion and Pomerol, Cab Franc is poised to become the next big grape: it has been described as “the Chanel No. 5 of wine”: more aromatic than Cabernet Sauvignon, perfumed with raspberry, violet and cocoa – with lift and elegance rather than power.

"If you want to understand what Gualtallary can do, find a bottle of this wine. It's drinkable now, but it should have a long life in bottle. At this quality level the price seems too good to be true. Unfortunately, only 3,400 bottles were produced."
98pts Luis Gutierrez, eRobertParker.com

 
Wine offered In Bond (IB) excluding duty and VAT.  For enquiries please email the team
Offer subject to final confirmation. E&OE.

VintageWineGrowerConditionSizeCasesBottlesPrice 
2011 Gran Enemigo Gualtallary El Enemigo - Bottles 5 - 660 per Case Add to shopping cart
"The 2010 was a hard act to follow, and the 2011 Gran Enemigo Gualtallary Single Vineyard had to fulfill great expectations. There is less color in this 2011 (I popped a bottle of the 2010 for comparison) and more notes reminiscent of Cabernet Franc (Alejandro Vigil harvested even earlier in 2010), because it is mostly Cabernet Franc from a very chalky vineyard in Gualtallary at 1,430 meters altitude that fermented together with a small percentage of Malbec. 50% of the volume was fermented with destemmed Cabernet Franc and full-cluster Malbec. The grapes from the most calcareous soils underwent a carbonic maceration in small bins, and after one week they are pressed and the juice finishes fermenting as if it were a white wine. The texture is very fine and the acidity seems like if it had a timer and shoots a second later than you expect it, creating a small explosion in your taste buds. That provides a very long aftertaste and almost citric flavors with a mineral, almost salty finish. At the end of the day this feels lighter but at the same time more complex than the 2010. If you want to understand what Gualtallary can do, find a bottle of this wine. It's drinkable now, but it should have a long life in bottle. At this quality level the price seems too good to be true. Unfortunately, only 3,400 bottles were produced.

Alejandro Vigil continues producing amazing wines under the brand El Enemigo (the enemy), including some of the best Cabernet Franc produced in Argentina. These wines seem to have created some kind of hype around the variety, but Vigil's wines are not about the variety at all, they are about the very special places where the grapes are grown, the soil, the altitude, the climatic conditions, and about the way he harvests and produces them to be transparent to what you find on the label: place and vintage. In other words, great terroir wines. A must if you want to understand Argentina's potential."
98pts Luis Gutierrez, eRobertParker.com