Envínate "Táganan" Tinto Tenerife Canary Islands 2024

This is Envínate's red field blend from Taganana, northeast Tenerife. Luis Gutiérrez (Wine Advocate, 95 points) notes a step up in precision. Much lighter than the 2023 vintage, but what it loses in weight it gains in clarity. The warmer, drier vintage and shorter maceration show through. Less reductive than previous vintages, clean and floral, medium-bodied with grainy tannins. Neat fruit core built around nordic berries and sour cherries, with a thread of smoke, flowers, and that flinty island edge. Medium-bodied yet tight and precise. Certainly approachable in its youth, but it will reward patience. If you can hang onto it for a few years, this wine will really come to life.

"Táganan" is the old local name for the rugged vineyard area located on the northeast side of Tenerife. In this area, the vineyards are planted “wild” on primary volcanic rock, on cliffs just above the Atlantic Ocean. The vineyards are very old and planted with many different native grape varieties. Due to the rugged and difficult terrain, all farming has to be done by hand, and harvest is usually performed with the help of animals in order to be able to transport the grapes.

This is an intriguing blend of native grape varieties, including Listan Negro, Negramoll, Mulata, Listan Gacho and Malvasia Rosada (to name just a few). The grapes come from different plots and different altitudes of very old vines. Planted in a fairly steep area with volcanic soils, the vines pgrow untrained and are organically farmed by Envínate and 15 other local families. They practice highly traditional viticulture. The work on the vineyards is done manually, and no chemicals are used.

Envínate (translates as "wine yourself") is the brainchild of four friends, winemakers Roberto Santana, Alfonso Torrente, Laura Ramos, and José Martínez. This gang of four formed back in 2005 while studying enology at the University of Miguel Hernandez in Alicante. Upon graduation, they formed a winemaking consultancy, which evolved into Envínate, a project that focuses on exploring distinctive parcels mainly in the Atlantic-inflected regions of Ribeira Sacra and the Canary Islands. Their collective aim is to make profoundly pure and authentic wines that express the terruño of each parcel in a clear and concise manner. To this end, no chemicals are used in any of the Envínate vineyards, all parcels are picked by hand, the grapes are foot-trodden, and the wines are fermented exclusively with wild yeasts, with a varying proportion of whole grape clusters included. For aging, the wines are raised in old barrels and concrete, and sulfur is only added at bottling, if needed. The results are some of the most exciting and honest wines being produced in Spain today.