El Enemigo Malbec

El Enemigo is the personal project of Alejandro Vigil, who is also the chief winemaker at Catena — one of the houses that built Argentina's international reputation. That matters because it is a winemaker working without the constraints of a large commercial range, and it shows: this is a more restrained, more savoury Malbec than the category's stereotype. If you want the reference point it is departing from, Catena Malbec ($22.99) is the bottle to taste it against.

Dark fruit, certainly, but with a floral, almost herbal edge and a real sense of structure underneath rather than just ripeness. Part of the character comes from a small proportion of Cabernet Franc in the blend and from ageing under flor, a film of yeast more usually associated with Sherry, which adds a savoury, slightly nutty complexity you will not find in most Malbec. It is drier and more serious than the plush style many people expect.

Grilled beef is the obvious and correct answer — Malbec's soft tannin and dark fruit were made for char and fat, and chimichurri's garlic and vinegar do not fight it. Beyond the grill it handles braised short ribs, mushrooms, aubergine and hard sheep's cheeses. It has more acidity than a typical Mendoza Malbec, which makes it more flexible at the table than the category average. Our Wine | Argentina collection description goes into why altitude produces that freshness.

Give it thirty to sixty minutes open, or decant it — it is noticeably more expressive after air, and tight on first pour. On ageing, it is built to improve for five to eight years from vintage, which is longer than most wines at this price. If you like it, buying two and opening one three years later is a genuinely worthwhile experiment and costs very little.

Against Spanish Rioja, Malbec is fruitier and softer with less obvious oak and no legally mandated ageing — Rioja's Crianza and Reserva tiers mean somebody has already cellared the wine for you, which Argentina does not offer. Against Chianti, Malbec is rounder and lower in acid, so it is easier to drink alone and less flexible with tomato-based food. Our guide to the best red wines of 2026 places the styles against each other properly.

Bramare Malbec Lujan de Cuyo ($45.99) is the step up into fine-wine territory from the oldest serious Malbec district in Mendoza, and Bodega Noemia Malbec A Lisa ($24.99) is a Patagonian wine from several hundred miles south — leaner and more mineral, and the clearest evidence that Argentina is not one place. Browse the full Wine | Argentina collection, or move sideways into Rioja and Red Wine.