2018 El Enemigo Syrah Viognier Mendoza Argentina 750 ml

There’s no hotter winemaker in Argentina than Alejandro Vigil. 

The South American icon has led Catena Zapata to Winery of the Year awards from both Wine Enthusiast and Wine & Spirits, and when our Master Sommelier, Sur Lucero, paid Vigil a visit in Gualtallary this August, the wine that blew him away—and the one he wouldn’t leave without securing an allocation of—was the 2018 El Enemigo Syrah-Viognier.
 

“What distinguishes this wine is simply the best fruit sources in some of the more remote reaches of Mendoza,” said Sur about Vigil’s stunningly fresh Syrah. “There’s just nothing like it at this price.”

Grown on vines nearly a mile above sea level, this is one of the most exciting Syrahs to emerge from South America. Last year, we brought it to the US for the first time. This year, it earned a glowing 94-point score from Vinous.

When Vigil first tasted a 1998 Guigal Syrah/Viognier from the Côte-Rôtie’s legendary “La La” vineyards, he was overcome with emotion. That stirring experience that inspired him, while helming Mendoza icon Bodega Catena Zapata, to craft El Enemigo.

We’ve come to expect bottles of this quality and vitality from member-favorite El Enemigo, run by the dream duo of Vigil and Adrianna Catena. Vigil’s unparalleled knowledge of terroir led Argentina’s Wine Institute to hire him as head of the soil division. Catena is a historian of early-modern Spain, with a Ph.D from Oxford—and the daughter of Nicolás Catena, the man Wine Enthusiast called the “godfather of modern Argentinian wine.”

Vigil and Catena’s talents result in outstanding wines that have given El Enemigo a cult following, and this 2018 Syrah Viognier shows why.