2019 El Enemigo (Bodegas Aleanna) Chardonnay Mendoza

JS96 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. Drink or hold.
WA93+ 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.

Alejandro Vigil is a master of Chardonnay, as well as a man who likes to push boundaries, which is why this impressive white was made with a little flor, just like a Fino Sherry. Toasty, spicy and salty, this is briney and refreshing with some honeyed notes. If you recognize the name, then you know this is also the winemaker for Catena Zapata, one of the preeminent wineries in Argentina. This project was launched with Adrianna Catena in 2007. 

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.