Gran Enemigo Single Vineyard - El Cepillo Cabernet Franc Uco Valley 2018

James Suckling

Ripe plums, blackberries, dark cherries, pine cones, mint chocolate, cloves and dried herbs on the nose. Hints of black pepper, too. Medium-bodied with fine, well-integrated tannins. There’s a dark spiciness to this. Well structured and muscular with fantastic intensity. Try in 2024.

Decanter World Wine Awards

Patricio Tapia - Descorchados

There is some of the characteristic sweetness of malbec in this example from El Cepillo, at the southern tip of the Uco Valley. But it's just that. The dense and penetrating acidity interferes with the flavors, lending them vigor and freshness, but also manages to reduce the sweetness that goes into the genes of grapes that are born under the sun of the Uco desert, minimizing its effect and allowing this red to refresh. And of course there's more than acidity and fruit. It also has herbal and floral notes and sweet spices. A fresh, intense, and vertical wine that can be drunk now, although we believe it's likely that it will project (in flavors, in textures) for another five to ten years.

Wine Enthusiast

Grapes for this wine are sourced from El Cepillo, a region in Uco Valley that is known for its low temperatures. The nose exhibits aromas of liquorice and cherry. Chalky tannins back delicious flavors of berry and plum, with hints of green bell pepper. This well-balanced Cabernet Franc reveals a herbaceous finish, offering light notes of rosemary.

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The nose of the 2018 Gran Enemigo El Cepillo Single Vineyard, from a low-yielding and drier year, is full of curry, a note that was a constant across the three vintages I tasted together, but it tends to be stronger in low-yielding and dry years like this. It's also floral and comes through as aromatic and a little exotic, in a good way, with elegance, persistence and very pure flavors. It has fine-grained tannins, great acidity and balance. 7,200 bottles. All these single-vineyard bottlings mature in ancient 4,000-liter oak foudres for some 15 months.

There are some new wines at El Enemigo, a project from Alejandro Vigil and Adrianna Catena that does not stop growing. They produce an impressive 1.2 million bottles between all the ranges. They are also going to plant some more vineyards with Chardonnay.

Decanter