El Enemigo Chardonnay 2016
The gold colour reflects its style as a big Chardonnay. The nose is an absolute knockout, offering intense apricot, clementine, passion fruit and floral scents that you can pick up across a not too airy room. The flavours deliver what the aromas hint at – full, rich and intense, with vibrant acidity and a long, mineral-accented finish. Only 35% new oak and no lees stirring means the grapes speak for themselves with just a hint of spice and oak. There are a massive amount of critical acclaims on the wine.
We choose 2016 because we find 2016 more elegant.
Scores are impressive, JS98 and RP94. Luis Gutierrez of the Wine Advocate writes, "This is one of those Chardonnays that people will love or hate." James Suckling says, "Love. Get it."
98 points James Suckling 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 does have flor in the barrel when ageing. Love. Get it. Drink now. (11/2018)
94 points 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. 14,000 bottles were filled in September 2017. (6/2018)
