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More wines available from El Enemigo
750ml
Bottle:
$20.89
A deep, stony, mineral bonarda with red cherries, blue fruit, graphite and some grilled herbs. Tight and juicy on the...
750ml
Bottle:
$21.90
$23.20
Against all odds, the 2020 Cabernet Franc, from a warm and dry year, feels fresher and more harmonious than the two...
750ml
Bottle:
$94.94
$109.94
The 2019 Gran Enemigo Agrelo Single Vineyard shows the completeness of the vintage, a year with good yields and a...
750ml - 1 Bottle
Bottle:
$73.31
Such impressive, rich aromas of berries, cherries and plums with blackberries and violets, too. An enticing fusion of...
750ml
Bottle:
$104.80
Blueberries, blackcurrants, hot stones, tobacco leaves, dried lavender, walnuts and cracked pepper on the nose....
More Details
Winery
El Enemigo
Vintage: 2012
2012 has, so far been a positive year for wineries around the world. While it may be a little too early to speak of the wines being made in the northern hemisphere, European and North American wineries have already begun reporting that their harvesting season has been generally very good, and are predicting to continue with the kind of successes they saw in 2011. However, 2012 has been something of a late year for France, due to unpredictable weather throughout the summer, and the grapes were ripening considerably later than they did in 2011 (which was, admittedly, an exceptionally early year). French wineries are claiming, though, that this could well turn out to be advantageous, as the slow ripening will allow the resulting wines to express more flavour and features of the terroir they are grown in.
The southern hemisphere has seen ideal climatic conditions in most of the key wine producing countries, and Australia and New Zealand particularly had a superb year, in particular with the Bordeaux varietal grapes that grow there and which love the humidity these countries received plenty of. Also enjoying a fantastic year for weather were wineries across Argentina and Chile, with the Mendoza region claiming that 2012 will be one of their best vintages of the past decade. Similar claims are being made across the Chilean wine regions, where Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon had an especially good year. These two grape varietals also produced characterful wines on the coastal regions of South Africa this year.
Varietal: Cabernet Franc
In its native France, the Cabernet Franc varietal grape is used in the production of a wide range of wines, from the bright and pale red colored single variety bottles, to the magnificent oak aged and world-beating wines of the Bordeaux region. The past century has seen many other countries catch on to the importance of this fine grape varietal, and today, it is one of the most widely grown grapes in the world. It thrives in cool, temperate valley regions, where it can ripen fully and produce plump fruits carrying all their distinctive flavors and aromas. The production of Bordeaux-style wines around the world simply wouldn't be able to reach such heights without Cabernet Franc, which lends its fascinating and complex aromas to the mix and makes them the memorable wines they are.
Region: Cuyo
The region of Cuyo has been internationally associated with fine Argentinian wine for several decades, and has a wine history which stretches back centuries to the time of the original Spanish settlers, who sought areas in which to plant imported grape vines for sacramental wine production. The region contains several of Argentina's most renowned and widely appreciated provinces, including the Mendoza, La Rioja, San Juan and San Luis, and the mountainous nature of this arid region provides an ideal environment for vineyard cultivation. As the mighty Desaguadero River snakes its way between the Andes, it deposits plenty of important minerals in the soil, which allow grape varietals closely associated with the Argentinian wine industry – such as Malbec – to grow to a perfect level of ripeness. As such, even in the driest areas of the Cuyo region, flavorful and fruit-forward wines are produced in impressive amounts.
Country: Argentina
In the dry, arid deserts of Argentina, wineries and winemakers are focusing their efforts on producing high quality wines for the world market. By experimenting with both traditional and modern methods and technologies, they have found great success with a wide variety of grapes well suited to the conditions of the country, particularly Malbec, Bonarda and Cabernet Sauvignon. Over the past decade, Argentinian wineries have continued to aim high, and this has led to a range of new wines using grape varietals not typically associated with the country. The cooler regions of Argentina are seeing more vineyards being planted with Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir varietals, something that is beginning to produce fantastic results, which are at once representative of the country's wines - with all their fruity and bold character - but are also pushing the boundaries of what we expect from a New World country.