Wine Advocate (97)

The site-specific 2018 Malbec Appellation Gualtallary comes from specific soils, two plots that they believe transmit the maximum expression of limestone to Malbec, giving a structured wine with fine-grained tannins but a little wild. The vines are on stony and gravelly soils with a high percentage of limestone and sand with around 3% clay at 1,300 meters in altitude. The grapes fermented in small concrete vats with indigenous yeasts at some 25 degrees Celsius for 15 days. It matured in untoasted 3,500-liter French oak foudres for 18 months and no less than 12 months in bottle. This comes from sandy soils and very low yields that give it chalkier tannins and a savage way. This has a slightly rustic touch, vertical and with some lightness. There's always a fresh touch of aromatic herbs (thyme and rockrose), with a textured palate and very tasty and clean flavors in the finish. 20,600 bottles were filled in September 2019.

Jeb Dunnuck (98-100)

The same 60/40 split of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, brought up in new oak, the 2018 Tench Vineyard EE Red Wine is another incredibly pure, complex, yet powerful 2018. Rocking levels of crème de cassis, spring flowers, chocolate, and graphite give way to a full-bodied, pure, and seamless wine that has incredible potential.

Wine Advocate (97-99+)

A barrel sample, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Tench Vineyard is deep garnet-purple colored and skips out of the glass with bright, cheery blackberries, crushed blackcurrants and plum preserves scents with hints of menthol, bay leaves and candied violets. Full-bodied, the palate is bombastic and juicy with plush tannins and lively acid, finishing long.

Wine Advocate (96)

There are three separate bottling from the Adrianna vineyard, one of them the 2013 Adrianna Vineyard Fortuna Terrae, sourced from the part of the vineyard with slightly deeper soils (we're talking only about 70 centimeters here!) that has limestone underneath, is flatter and provides very aromatic, slightly lighter wines, more feminine if you like. It's very floral, gentle, with fine tannins with a good structure based on a combination with superb acidity. This is also lighter colored, the more Pinot of the three. Some 3,000 bottles were filled in December 2015.

James Suckling (98)

A dense and layered red with fantastic, soft and silky tannins that entice every inch of your palate. Full-bodied yet agile and energetic. Great depth and richness. So much violet and blackberry character. Hints of asphalt. Drink in 2022, but already a classic.

Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (98)

Let the aromatics slowly unfurl out of the glass, really give it time. Crushed raspberries and tobacco, fresh flowers, salty crackers, oyster shell. The weight, the texture, the acidity are all in balance, playing off each other, and this is just a wonderful wine that stops you in your tracks. Located at 1,450m, from a 1.4ha limestone plot, particularly rich in microorganisms (as we learnt through their brilliant recent terroir studies). It's a place where phenolic ripeness happens slowly and the complexity builds as a result. A spring frost reduced yields by about 20%, fermented with 50% whole cluster between concrete vats and oak casks. 4800 bottles produced.

James Suckling (99)

Blackberries with some black tea and perfumes. Full-bodied with fine, dusty tannins and seamless texture. So long and consistent. 60% whole cluster fermentation with 14 months in oak casks. Glorious, tactile wine. Drinkable now, but better in three or four years.

Wine Advocate (98)

The 2020 Adrianna Vineyard Fortuna Terrae shows exceptionally well. It's still young and juicy with some baby fat that should get rendered with some more time in bottle. It's a little lighter, and the tannins gave it grip and a chalky limestone sensation. But the wine is very expressive, with purity, clean and precise and not showing any signs of coming from a warmer year like 2020. It finishes with the telltale violets from the great Malbec grape coated by chalky minerality. This plot behaves well in warmer years like this one. It was bottled in October 2021. 5,400 bottles produced.

James Suckling (98)

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 really does have flor in the barrel when aging. Love. Get it. Drink now.

James Suckling (98)

A tight and beautiful white with a dense palate of beautiful, ripe lemons and apples. Layered and refined with phenolic tension. Complex yeast and hints of oak and flor. Full body. Great length. 80 per cent flor-growth in barrel. Drink now.

James Suckling (97)

This is another rock-star chardonnay from here with dried-apple, pear-skin, crushed-stone and peach-pit character. Full body. Creamy texture. Phenolic form and a long, flavorful finish. Drink or hold.

James Suckling (96)

Cooked apple, lemon curd and light vanilla on the nose, together with stone, mineral and some dried flowers. Medium to full body with a creamy texture and beautiful fruit. Hints of vanilla and pie crust in the aftertaste. Always great quality for the price. Drink or hold.

James Suckling (96)

This has aromas of ripe apricots, buttercream, baked apples and pastries. Medium-to full-bodied with a creamy, round and almost oily texture. Lovely balance of ripe fruit and toasted-pastry notes with bright acidity. Delicious finish. Fantastic value, as always. Drink now or hold.

Wine Advocate (98+)

The nose of the 2012 Gran Enemigo Gualtallary Single Vineyard almost made me fall from my chair. It is the expression of elegance and austerity coupled with strong minerality. It is mostly Cabernet Franc from a very chalky vineyard in Gualtallary at 1,430 meters altitude that fermented together with a small percentage of Malbec. In 2012 they fine tuned the élevage and fermentation, which was in rolling 500-liter barrels that were new in 2006 (so by then quite neutral), where the wine was kept for one more year and then transferred to 1,000-liter egg-shaped cement vats for one further year. This reminded me of my favorite Bordeaux, Lafleur, because of the elegance, the refinement of the tannins and length. It has citric, effervescent acidity that makes you salivate. Winemaker and Owner Alejandro Vigil has done a very strict selection of the soils in the field, and only kept the very center of the vineyard where the high density (12,000 plants per hectare) generates a lot of competition, because the plants from the borders have more space in the sides, which means in 2012 he could only fill 1,800 bottles. Awesome, and ultra fresh for a vintage like 2012. Bravo!

Wine Advocate (98)

I also tasted the 2014 Gran Enemigo Gualtallary Single Vineyard, which might take some months to come into the market. It has some balsamic aromas, medicinal hints, traces of orange peel, saffron and a touch of sweet spices. It's built around very fine tannins and a notable core of acidity that acts as backbone, giving it length and lifting up the finish. This is quite in line with the 2010 vintage, with power and freshness in a rare combination of clout and elegance only the very best wines manage to show.

James Suckling (98)

This is such a fabulous red with ripe berries, blackberries and hints of dried mushrooms and black tea. Full body and crystalline tannins that carry the wine on for minutes. Energetic and takes off like a rocket. Extreme, great wine. Drink or hold.

Wine Advocate (99)

The nose of the 2016 Gran Enemigo Gualtallary Single Vineyard transported me back to the classical wines from the Bordeaux of yesteryear, with austerity and with no room for sweetness or creamy texture. This is about chalk and umami, salty and tasty, with the clout and wilderness of Gualtallary; its electric freshness and fine tannins; the expression of Cabernet Franc (with some Merlot) in the poor, stony and limestone-rich soils from the high-altitude vineyards; and the intensity this altitude provides, as there is a strong impact from the light in the grapes. But the one thing that I liked the most about this 2016 was its balance and the way it feels light but has tremendous concentration and power, light on its feet with masses of inner strength. It's nuanced and complex, even if it's terribly young. With time in the glass, it developed notes of orange peel that spoke of freshness, and the palate is sharp and direct, with symmetry and precision. This is approachable now but should live forever in bottle.

Wine Advocate (99)

The nose of the 2016 Gran Enemigo Gualtallary Single Vineyard transported me back to the classical wines from the Bordeaux of yesteryear, with austerity and with no room for sweetness or creamy texture. This is about chalk and umami, salty and tasty, with the clout and wilderness of Gualtallary; its electric freshness and fine tannins; the expression of Cabernet Franc (with some Merlot) in the poor, stony and limestone-rich soils from the high-altitude vineyards; and the intensity this altitude provides, as there is a strong impact from the light in the grapes. But the one thing that I liked the most about this 2016 was its balance and the way it feels light but has tremendous concentration and power, light on its feet with masses of inner strength. It's nuanced and complex, even if it's terribly young. With time in the glass, it developed notes of orange peel that spoke of freshness, and the palate is sharp and direct, with symmetry and precision. This is approachable now but should live forever in bottle.

Wine Advocate (98)

The 2017 Gran Enemigo Gualtallary Single Vineyard didn't show any heat or excess ripeness from a warm and dry year. On the contrary, it's austere and has citrus acidity, with great freshness and minerality. The palate is super austere with vibrant acidity—by far the highest among the Gran Enemigo bottlings—and very fine, chalky tannins. This is remarkable, serious, balanced and fresh with a very, very long and salty finish. This fermented in barrels with 100% full clusters and indigenous yeasts and matured in centenary oak foudres for 15 months. 3,000 bottles were filled in July 2018.

Wine Advocate (98)

One of the finest and more regular wines from Argentina, the 2018 Gran Enemigo Gualtallary Single Vineyard is austere and shows restraint, with great freshness and gobsmacking balance and complexity, but in the context of the 2019 and 2020 vintages that I also tasted next to it, it comes thorough as slightly less refined but still with 13.5% alcohol and with very good parameters of acidity and freshness. It has a medium-bodied palate and a rare combination of power and elegance, with very fine, chalky tannins. It's very long and has a salty and tasty finish. It matured in centenary oak foudres for 15 months. 9,000 bottles were filled in July 2019.

James Suckling (100)

A complex, restrained and deliciously austere cabernet franc with damp earth, oyster shells, blueberries, thyme, rosemary and mushrooms. Super serious and chalky on the palate with lots of dissolved, minerally-textured tannins. Very long and uncompromising! An incredible cabernet franc from Gualtallary by Alejandro Vigil. Extremely pure, mineral and seductive. A fabulous cabernet franc that grows on the palate with remarkable tension and texture. I’d want to drink a bottle now even it can hold extremely well.

James Suckling (100)

A complex, restrained and deliciously austere cabernet franc with damp earth, oyster shells, blueberries, thyme, rosemary and mushrooms. Super serious and chalky on the palate with lots of dissolved, minerally-textured tannins. Very long and uncompromising! An incredible cabernet franc from Gualtallary by Alejandro Vigil. Extremely pure, mineral and seductive. A fabulous cabernet franc that grows on the palate with remarkable tension and texture. I’d want to drink a bottle now even it can hold extremely well.

James Suckling (100)

A complex, restrained and deliciously austere cabernet franc with damp earth, oyster shells, blueberries, thyme, rosemary and mushrooms. Super serious and chalky on the palate with lots of dissolved, minerally-textured tannins. Very long and uncompromising! An incredible cabernet franc from Gualtallary by Alejandro Vigil. Extremely pure, mineral and seductive. A fabulous cabernet franc that grows on the palate with remarkable tension and texture. I’d want to drink a bottle now even it can hold extremely well.

James Suckling (99)

This is luxurious red for the vintage with velvety tannins that give it superb depth and richness. Lots of tile, dry earth, clay and chocolate. Full-bodied, but almost weightless in the sensibility of the wine. It goes on for minutes. Lovely dried oranges and savory, fruity and forest-floor character at the end. 80% cabernet sauvignon, 14% cabernet franc, 4% petit verdot and 2% merlot. Unfined and unfiltered. Drink in 2025.

Wine Advocate (98+)

A blend of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Cabernet Franc, the 2018 Oakville Estate Proprietary Red Wine was aged for 22 months in French oak barrels, 55% new. Deep garnet-purple colored, it sashays out of the glass with flamboyant scents of candied violets, red roses, black raspberries and fragrant earth over a core of cassis, wild blueberries and Morello cherries with a waft of pencil lead. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is an exercise in poise, featuring beautifully balanced velvety tannins and seamless freshness framing the opulent black and red berry layers, finishing very long and perfumed. 670 cases were made.

Wine Spectator (94)

'#1 in Wine Spectator Top 100 2022' - Packs in generous steeped plum, boysenberry and mulberry flavors backed by a broad swath of roasted alder and bittersweet cocoa. Brimming with dense fruit, and is squarely in the not-shy style. The long finish has a serious loamy tug, too. Best from 2023 through 2035. 10,000 cases made.

Jeb Dunnuck (100)

The 2015 Screaming Eagle is another monumental wine from this address, and it's one of those cases where if you afford it, you should buy it. A blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc, this magical elixir boasts a deep purple color as well as a blockbuster bouquet of blueberries, creme de cassis, violets, incense, and cedarwood. Reminding me of the 2015 Château Margaux with its off the charts class and purity, it’s full-bodied, thrillingly textured, and has a finish that just won't quit. This legendary wine is going to keep for 30-40 years.

Wine Advocate (97+)

Beautiful floral notes intermixed with creme de cassis, licorice and charcoal jump from the glass of this dense purple-colored 2002. Opulent, broad, full-bodied and more mature than I expected given how this wine showed in its youth, this deep, rich Cabernet Sauvignon is exceptional. However, in this vintage it has to take a back seat to a number of other cuvees. The final blend was 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc.

James Suckling (100)

The subtle and nuanced aromas to this are so enticing with perfumed, floral, blackcurrant and blackberry character. Roses, too. Some lavender. Full-bodied yet so refined and polished with the most transparent and polished texture. Firm and seamless. So beautiful now. Give it three or four years to come around, but this already sings.

Wine Advocate (100)

Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2018 Screaming Eagle soars out of the glass with vibrant notions of ripe blackberries, black cherries and fresh red and black currants plus wafts of licorice, candied violets, cedar chest and clove oil with a beguiling touch of sea spray. Medium-bodied with jaw-dropping elegance, the palate is finely textured and yet built like a brick house with a super taut backbone and exquisitely knit acidity. The intense black and red fruit flavors are accented by layers of mineral and floral notions, finishing with incredible length and depth. Undeniably stunning. “I loved it!” winemaker Nick Gislason told me when I asked him for his thoughts on the 2018 vintage. “Everything is just really perfumey with a lot of verve and a lot of freshness. It’s a wholesome vintage, if that makes sense? The canopies were big and healthy; there was a lot of life in the vineyard. After 2017, it felt like the bloom that comes afterward.” He went on to say, "We made a little 2017 red. Only four barrels of the Cab! Ten barrels of The Flight. Only from grapes that came in before the fires—mainly Merlot and a couple of blocks of Cabernet." Whereas Screaming Eagle is mainly sourced from Cabernet Sauvignon grown on the western side of the estate, there is one plot of old Merlot (1980s plantings) on the eastern side of the vineyard that continually makes the backbone of this Second Flight/The Flight. This is planted on very gravelly, well-drained soils. Gislason explained, “The Cabernet Sauvignon for The Flight is always about being fresh, light and perfumey, without the firmer tannins that Cabernet can sometimes give. There is a ‘fresh’ end of the property that this tends to come from. There is some other Merlot on the other side of the property that doesn’t have the acidity, perfume or brightness we’re looking for. We don’t use this in The Flight.”