El Enemigo Cabernet Franc 2017
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This Cabernet Franc is ruby red in color with soft violet tones. The nose has intense aromas and concentrated notes of cassis, ripe currants, and sweet spices including black pepper and cloves. His tenure provides integrated oak notes of cedar and vanilla. Fresh impact and excellent structure on the palate, reminiscent of ripe red fruits with hints of eucalyptus and tagged black pepper. This wine has an excellent balance and elegance with a well-structured, persistent finish.
Pair this Cabernet Franc with grilled game meats.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The expressive and elegant 2017 El Enemigo Cabernet Franc has some 8% Malbec in the blend. It's a subtle red with nuance and detail, very harmonious, aromatic, even floral within the spicy character of the variety. The palate is medium-bodied, the tannins are very fine and there's moderate alcohol and very good freshness and harmony. This matured in oak foudres for some 15 months.
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James Suckling
This is such a delicious cabernet franc with blackberry and floral notes on the nose and palate, which draw you in and invite you to drink. Medium body. Round, creamy tannins and a delicious finish. The use of whole berries really makes this.
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Wine Enthusiast
Tight, spicy aromas of rooty berry fruits brightened by red currant set up a smooth, jammy palate that doesn't weigh too heavily. Peppery black fruit flavors are topped by toasty oak, while this expands on the finish with berry, spice and chocolate notes, with herbal hints coming in late Drink through 2024.
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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.
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.