El Enemigo Semillon 2020 (750ML)

95 VM / 94 JS / 92 WA / 92 WS / 92 WE

#78 Wine Enthusiast Top 100 2023

The 2020 Semillon El Enemigo from Agrelo, Lujan de Cuyo hails from a 70-year-old vineyard. Aged with flor for a year before 15 months in barrels, it’s a golden yellow in the glass. On the nose there are notes of flint, honey, a little hazelnut and cashew nut underneath the flor-based aromas of white flowers and pear. In the mouth, however, it’s broad with a good, voluminous flow and a clove backdrop. Intense and creamy with a sustained layer of salinity, the stylistic acrobatics have opened up new possibilities for the varietal. -- Joaquin Hidalgo, Vinous Media

 This has an intense nose of dried apple, grilled pineapple, cedar, salted butter, waxed lemon, green olive and smoked almond. It’s medium-bodied with a layered and concentrated palate. Saline, toasty and smoky. Drink now or hold.-James Suckling

The creamy 2020 Semillon was produced with grapes from Agrelo in Luján de Cuyo. It fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured in oak barrels, 10% of them new, for 15 months, 20% of them without topping up, which made the wine develop a veil of flor yeast. It's expressive and aromatic with notes of white flowers and spices, and it has a light to medium-bodied palate with 13.5% alcohol and very good freshness for a warm year. 5,250 bottles were filled in December 2021.-Luis Gutierrez, The Wine Advocate

Opens with bright notes of citrus rind, almond skin and white peach before turning rich around a creamy midpalate of ripe papaya and poached pear. Buttery pastry notes fold in on the finish, with traces of saline. Drink now through 2026.-Aaron Romano, Wine Spectator

Sémillion old vines are being rescued in Argentina to make high-end wines with complexity. This is the case of this white from 50-year-old vines in Luján de Cuyo with a small percentage aged under flor. The nose shows subtle almond and acacia aromas that complement its citrus and saline notes. The medium-weight palate offers almond, grapefruit, pear and elevated acidity, finishing with light smoky notes.-Jesica Vargas, Wine Enthusiast