El Enemigo Chardonnay Reviews
El Enemigo Chardonnay Reviews
Learn More About El Enemigo Chardonnay Through its Reviews.
2021 El Enemigo Chardonnay Reviews
97 Pointz James Suckling
“A hint of flint and gunpowder with waxed lemon, oyster shell, mango, and salted green apples. Quite a textured, saline expression of chardonnay with tangy flavors and a mineral drive. Full-bodied and reductive with phenolic support. Savory, saline, and mouthwatering finish. Love the austerity here.”
94 Pointz Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
“The 2021 Chardonnay was phenomenal, way above the expectations for the price point. It was produced with pristine grapes from Gualtallary that in the cool 2021 vintage achieved 13.5% alcohol but kept a low pH of 3.05 and 7.7 grams of acidity. It matured in oak barrels that were not topped up and let to develop a veil of flor yeast. The barrels were 500-liter ones, and despite 35% of them being new, the wine doesn't feel marked by the wood. It has the chalky texture of the limestone soils. Superb! This is a bargain that is approachable now, but it should also develop nicely in bottle.”
Bonus Reviews
United Kingdom
93 Pointz Tim Atkin, Master of Wine
“Ageing under a veil of flor adds an extra dimension of salty complexity to this unwooded Gualtallary Chardonnay. Subtle, bready, and leesy, with notes of salt and brioche, zesty, zippy acidity and lemongrass, cardamom, and citrus peel flavours.”
2020 El Enemigo Chardonnay Reviews
96 Pointz James Suckling
“This has aromas of ripe apricots, buttercream, baked apples, and pastries. Medium-to full-bodied with a creamy, round, and almost oily texture. Lovely balance of ripe fruit and toasted-pastry notes with bright acidity. Delicious finish. Fantastic value, as always.”
94 Pointz Vinous
“The 2020 Chardonnay El Enemigo from Gualtallary, Uco Valley was aged in oak with flor for twelve months with 15% coming from other years. Yellowish green in the glass. The nose presents notes of hazel and chestnuts accompanied by green apple and expressive whiffs of chamomile and pineapple. In the mouth, it’s taut with heightened freshness and a compact character from the flor exposing the skeletal acidity.”
92 Pointz Wine Spectator
Smart Buy
“Shows Viognier-like floral notes of gardenia and honeysuckle, with an elegant yet rich body of peach and pineapple. Reveals hints of thyme and mineral on the lengthy finish.”
90 Pointz Wine Enthusiast
“El Enemigo 2020 Chardonnay (Gualtallary). Delicate notes of mango, lime, and honey form a delicious nose. On the palate, lime, mango, and pineapple light up this medium-bodied wine as moderate acidity balances the flavors. A touch of chamomile tea and leafy notes add complexity to the finish.”
Bonus Reviews
United Kingdom
93 Pointz Tim Atkin, Master of Wine
“Alejandro Vigil’s high-altitude Gualtallary Chardonnay contains 15% of wines from previous vintages, making it something of a solera style, complete with a little flor. Rich, textured, and perfumed, with some stone fruit sweetness, nuanced 35% new oak, and a salty undertone.”
2019 El Enemigo Chardonnay Reviews
96 Pointz James Suckling
“Cooked apple, lemon curd, and light vanilla on the nose, together with stone, mineral, and some dried flowers. Medium to full body with a creamy texture and beautiful fruit. Hints of vanilla and pie crust in the aftertaste. Always great quality for the price.”
94 Pointz Vinous
“The 2019 Chardonnay El Enemigo from Gualtallary, Uco Valley, was aged for nine months in 500-liter barrels, partially in flor. Yellow with golden flecks. The aromas deliver cedar, hazelnut, hints of white fruit, a touch of yeast, and a whiff of sherry. Dry in the mouth, with a terse, velvety texture that nonetheless remains compact. The backdrop is full of cedar and flor flavors with hints of salinity and a prolix aftertaste.”
93 Pointz Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
“The textbook 2019 Chardonnay is elegant and subtle, seamless and integrated, with moderate alcohol and great freshness, finishing dry and very tasty. Vigil likes to have some flor in part of his wines, and it gives them a special complexity and tastiness. 2019 was a very healthy vintage, and the grapes achieved 13.5% alcohol while keeping very high acidity, which makes the palate vibrant and lively. It was produced with grapes from Gualtallary and that always adds extra freshness when picked at the right time. It matured in 500-liter oak barrels for nine months and there’s always some flor in the élevage.”
90 Pointz Wine Enthusiast
“Delicate notes of honeysuckle and chamomile flowers with pear and pineapple aromas are in the glass of this elegant Chardonnay from Gualtallary in the Uco Valley. The creamy palate is flavorful with concentrated citrus, tropical fruit, and vanilla notes backed by nice acidity. It has a lingering finish with pleasant, sweet oaky flavors in the aftertaste.”
90 Pointz Wine Spectator
“Rich and well-spiced, with plush dried apple, apricot, and pear tart flavors. Minerally finish has lingering notes of dried mint and tarragon.”
Bonus Reviews
United Kingdom
93 Pointz Tim Atkin, Master of Wine
“Aged under a layer of flor, just like a Fino Cherry, this is a complex, lightly wooded Chardonnay that is as much about texture as fruit flavours. Leesy, bready, and saline, it has notes of waxed lemons and wet stones and zesty supporting acidity.”
2018 El Enemigo Chardonnay Reviews
97 Pointz James Suckling
“This is another rock-star chardonnay from here with dried-apple, pear-skin, crushed-stone, and peach-pit character. Full body. Creamy texture. Phenolic form and a long, flavorful finish.”
93 Pointz Vinous
“A Chardonnay from Gualtallary that underwent a carefully calibrated ageing process developed by the winemaker Alejandro Vigil: 500 liters French oak barrels, 35% new, mixed with increasing quantities of flor. Golden yellow in color, the 2018 Chardonnay El Enemigo combines aromas of pear and apple with hazelnuts, toffee, and a touch of acacia. Creamy with intense flavors, the film lends a dryness in stark contrast to the ingenious structure that enhances the firm acidity and lengthy, hazelnut finish. A technical, original white inspired by the more forward thinking parts of Burgundy and California with more than a nod to Jura as well.”
93 Pointz Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
“The textbook 2018 El Enemigo Chardonnay had varietal aromas and notes from the barrel, giving it a very attractive profile. But there is a secret: the barrels develop some flor yeasts in the style of Jerez (or Jura) and this gives the wine a spicy twist, hints of curry and white pepper. The wine is silky and the very high acidity is not noticeable. This is a great commercial success, and at the price, it offers great value.”
2017 El Enemigo Chardonnay Reviews
98 Pointz James Suckling
“A tight and beautiful white with a dense palate of beautiful, ripe lemons and apples. Layered and refined with phenolic tension. Complex yeast and hints of oak and flor. Full body. Great length. 80 per cent flor-growth in barrel.”
91 Pointz Wine Spectator
“Lithe and rich, featuring concentrated Gala apple and Asian pear flavors that are well-spiced. A light buttery note emerges midpalate, leading to a finish that extends with creamy and buttery accents.”
88 Pointz Wine Enthusiast
“Resiny oak is the chief aroma, while vanilla completes the aromatic picture. As in previous years, a heavy application of oak and fairly low acidity combine to create a weighty, flat-planed Chardonnay. Wood resin, vanilla, and coconut flavors are more prominent than fruit, while this is soft on the finish.”
2016 El Enemigo Chardonnay Reviews
98 Pointz James Suckling
#59 on Top 100 Wines of 2018
“This is really amazing with an exotic dried-fruit character of pineapple and mangoes. Full-bodied, rich, and fruity with cream, pie-crust, and caramel character. Crazy chardonnay with a little Jura style and some flor undertones. It really does have flor in the barrel when aging. Love. Get it. Drink now.”
94 Pointz Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
“With an even darker, more intense golden color but fresher aromas and flavors compared to the 2015 vintage, the 2016 El Enemigo Chardonnay has more noticeable notes of curry and nuts, with higher acidity, which gives it somewhat of a Jura character. It has 13.5% alcohol and 7.4 grams of acidity (in tartaric), so, very healthy natural parameters. It had a longer élevage sous voile, up to 13 months, so that probably explains why the yeasty and spicy character is more marked here than in the 2015. Winemaker Alejandro Vigil likes it like this, but he doesn't want more of the flor character, as it's not supposed to be a flor wine. Superb! It will be very interesting to see how this wine ages in bottle.”
91 Pointz Vinous
“Yellow with a gold tinge. Knockout nose combines fresh peach, orange zest, flowers, and wild herbs. Juicy, pure, and intense; a bit less saline than the 2015 version but boasts firm stone fruit, spice and mineral flavors, and more energy. Not especially phenolic but possesses serious backbone for Argentine Chardonnay. Still holding a lot in reserve, this wine should expand with more time in bottle.”
2015 El Enemigo Chardonnay Reviews
95 Pointz James Suckling
“This is dense and flavorful with lots of sliced apple, almond, and flower character. Hints of kiwi too. Full body, dry, and exceptionally long finish. Oily but dry. Wild. Drink now.”
92 Pointz Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
“I tasted two vintages—2015 and 2016—of the only white they bottle (so far, because in the future there will be a Sémillon), which I hadn't encountered for a while. The 2015 El Enemigo Chardonnay is 100% grapes from Gualtallary. It's from a single vineyard with sandy soils, with boulders and limestone 50 centimeters down, from 5.2 hectares of vines planted in 1998 in the Adrianna vineyard, in the Mirador plot. After the full clusters were pressed, the juice fermented in barrel and was kept there under a thin layer of flor yeasts, similar to wines kept in a solera. The effect of the flor is quite mild, as it's very thin and is only in contact with the wine for around nine months, so it only adds a spicy/yeasty twist. There are some oxidative and smoky notes, and the wine has a dark color and different personality, with hints of tar and diesel, curry, and charred oranges. It has pungent and sharply focused flavors, with good freshness and a tasty finish. This is one of those Chardonnays that people will love or hate.”
90 Pointz Vinous
“Deep gold-tinged yellow. Aromas and flavors of apricot, fresh peach, orange zest, and nutmeg are complicated by graphite minerality and a hint of nutty oak (just 10% new). A sweet, silky, pliant fruit bomb with terrific length and spicy lift. This distinctly glyceral Chardonnay is leavened by a faint umami savory quality.”
87 Pointz Wine Enthusiast
“This golden Chardonnay is loaded with rich, oaky aromas of corn pudding, butterscotch, baked apple, and wood grain. Plump and soft on the palate, this tastes of baked apple, creamed corn, and buttery oak, with popcorn to the finish.”
2014 El Enemigo Chardonnay Reviews
90 Pointz Vinous
“Ripe, oily nose conveys a sappy, salty richness and sweet oak tones. Displays a subtle tropical fruit ripeness along with some leesy complexity on the palate, then finishes surprisingly firm and minerally, with a note of nut skin. In a distinctly savory style. According to winemaker Vigil, by not using any SO2 he encourages the formation of flor in his Chardonnay barrels; it typically grows in about 80% of them. Vigil noted that this wine comes from deeper soils than the Catena Chardonnays. He does three different picks for this wine, with potential alcohol levels ranging from 11% to 15%, but even more passes through the vines for the top three Catena Chardonnays.”
90 Pointz Wine Spectator
“Spicy and buttery, with concentrated flavors of ripe pear, baked apple, and cardamom. Broad-textured, offering a cream and meringue filled finish.”
88 Pointz Wine Enthusiast
“In the past we said the enemy of El Enemigo was too much oak; that heavy oak character persist, but it is more integrated than in prior bottlings. Along with woody aromas, look for cidery apple scents in front of a soft, chunky palate. Flavors of popcorn, caramel, and baked apple finish weighty and woody.”
2013 El Enemigo Chardonnay Reviews
93 Pointz Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
“The 2012 was not produced, so I tasted the 2013 El Enemigo Chardonnay, which is sourced exclusively from one vineyard in Gualtallary on very chalky soils at 1,400 meters altitude. The grapes were harvested over three passes with almost one month between the first and last harvest. The full clusters were pressed and fermented in well-seasoned 500-liter oak barrels where the wine matured in contact with the lees for nine months. After that, all the lots are blended and kept in two large oak vats with more lees work for a couple of months before bottling. Only 20% of the wine went through malolactic fermentation, and some barrels developed a thin layer of yeasts similar to what you see in Jerez and the Jura, which provides for a subtle, spicy twang in the nose. That could be why the wine seems to have an extra dimension of complexity with hints of curry and spicy notes. The fruit is a mixture of white and yellow, and there are plenty of flowers, aromatic herbs, and something reminiscent of talcum powder too. The palate is very lively, sharp even, with depth, penetrating flavors, and very good length. Superb quality for the price.”
92 Pointz Vinous
“Fresh, subtle aromas of white peach, citrus zest, and nuts accented by flowers and herbs. Concentrated and fine-grained, showing excellent concentration and a restrained sweetness to the flavors of stone fruits, minerals, and grilled nuts; not at all dominated by oak. A subtle saline quality adds interest to this classically dry, long Chardonnay, which finishes with sneaky concentration and noteworthy energy. This held up for days in the recorked bottle without betraying any sign of heat.”
85 Points Wine Enthusiast
“This ripe offering smells of corn, baked apple, and oak. It’s creamy and woody in the mouth, with modest acidity. Flavors of creamed corn, caramel, and soft melon finish plump, with a baked quality. It lacks vivacity.”