Benje Tinto - Listan Prieto
Rood96% Listán Prieto, 2% Listán Blanco en 2% Tintilla | verschillende percelen net buiten Santiago del Teide op de Pico del Teide | 300 meter hoogte | 70-120 jaar oude stokken | 50% whole bunch | vergisting in een mix van beton en plastic tanks | rijping in gebruikt Frans eiken van 225 liter voor 8 maanden | kers | zacht | gul | humus | drop & lavendel | zeer fijn en lichtvoetig | meeste naturel stijl van alle wijnen
Envínate
Een joint venture gestart door vier wijn-nerds die elkaar zijn tegengekomen op de Universiteit. Een sprookjesverhaal toch? Na een aantal oogsten is hun reputatie flink gestegen en maken ze super wijnen op 3 verschillende locaties; langs de westkust van Tenerife, in Ribeira Sacra en in Almansa. Wijnen met laserprecisie, super energie en met een licht natuurlijk randje! Een prachtige aanvulling op ons portfolio!
Review
I also tasted the red varietal Listán Prieto (a.k.a. País, Criolla Chica, Mission) 2020 Benje Tinto from a similarly dry and warm vintage as 2019, vinified and aged in the same way with indigenous yeasts and matured in neutral oak barrels for eight months. It feels a little closed (reductive?) but with a great palate. It feels like these 2020s have very fine tannins and velvety textures. Give it a little bit of time, but this will be as good as the 2019. 20,000 bottles and 200 magnums were produced. It was bottled in June 2021. Luis Gutiérrez 94/100
I tasted the 2019s and 2020s from Envínate in the Canary Islands, where they produced wines from different zones in Tenerife, in the north in Taganana, La Orotava and now also in Tacoronte-Acentejo, and in the south in Santiago del Teide. Both vintages were warm and dry, but 2020 is clearly superior for the white wines. Envínate is planning to build a brand-new winery from scratch, but the project will take a couple of years, so the objective is to vinify the 2023 vintage there. In Tenerife, they produce 100,000 bottles (in 2021), but some vintages are shorter, like 2020 when they produced 85,000 bottles. Their idea is to produce a grand total of 200,000 bottles between Canary Islands, Galicia and the Mediterranean. In Santiago del Teide in the south, they had half the rain they used to get before 2017, so very low yields. 2020 was a hurried ripeness, and all the zones ripened at the same time and very early. 2019 was a more balanced year. At La Orotava, both vintages were very good, without the issue with fog. But 2020 was also warmer, with a sunstroke during the summer that could easily produce some over-ripeness. They harvested some plots earlier and avoided that. The wine from Tacoronte-Acentejo is closer to the character of the wines from Taganana. They started there with a wine in 2020 that could be within the appellation of origin, but as the winery is outside the limits of the appellation, they cannot sell the wine with the appellation of origin. In Taganana, they did a great interpretation of the 2020 vintage, even if both were very dry.