El Enemigo : El Enemigo Semillón 2024

Characteristics and Tasting Tips for El Enemigo Semillón 2024

Tasting

Nose

The nose is expressive and generous, unveiling notes of tropical fruit, apricot, peach and melon, wrapped in floral touches of dried flowers and chamomile. Hints of honey, vanilla and caramel mingle with nuances of hazelnut, toasted walnuts and candied fruit, reflecting the extended ageing and the presence of a veil of yeast.

Palate

The attack is dry and enveloping, before the palate tightens around a compact, saline structure. The texture, at once creamy and taut, carries flavours of lemon, apricot and toasted dried fruit, supported by pronounced minerality. The long, bone-dry finish extends the aromas derived from ageing with impressive persistence.

Food and Wine Pairing

This wine is a delightful match for a mushroom risotto, a goat's cheese salad or oily fish such as halibut, swordfish or tuna, whose richness finds an echo in the wine's ample texture and salinity.

Serving and Cellaring

This El Enemigo Semillón 2024 will benefit from being enjoyed from around 2027, its saline structure and extended ageing giving it genuine potential for development in bottle.

A Mendoza Sémillon Shaped by Ageing Under Flor

The Estate

El Enemigo was founded in 2008 in Mendoza under the name Bodega Aleanna, the result of a collaboration between winemaker and soil engineer Alejandro Vigil and historian Adrianna Catena, daughter of Nicolás Catena Zapata. Today, they run the estate alongside Constanza Hartung, who is closely involved in day-to-day operations. The project stands out for its literary, introspective philosophy centred on the notion of the "inner enemy", combined with low-intervention winemaking.

The Vineyard

The Sémillon that goes into this Argentinian wine comes from a single plot in Agrelo, in the municipality of Luján de Cuyo, in the heart of the Mendoza province. The vines are planted at an altitude of around 930 metres on predominantly clay soils, with a high planting density that promotes concentration and freshness in the grapes.

Winemaking and Ageing

The grapes for El Enemigo Semillón 2024 are pressed, then fermented with the indigenous yeasts naturally present on the berries, in used French oak barrels. Ageing continues for fifteen months, with 35% of the volume under a veil of yeast (flor), a rare practice for an Argentinian Sémillon that gives the wine its aromatic complexity and distinctive texture.

Grape Variety

This wine is made from Sémillon.