Envínate 2019: Tenerife and Almansa

9/20/20 -

The arrival of a new vintage of wines from Envínate is always exciting. Roberto Santana, Alfonso Torrente, Laura Ramos, and José Martínez are making fascinating wines from vineyards across Spain. Today, we are pleased to offer the first round of their 2019 wines from the island of Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands, and the 2019 release of Albahra, from vines in Almansa, Albacete.

The wines from Tenerife are elegant expressions of volcanic soil and Atlantic climates, great representations of the wines of the Canary Islands. If you would like to read more about this project, and the wines of the Canary Islands, I wrote a longer profile in May which can be accessed here. These are very special wines, and it's always a treat to be able to offer them.

2019 was a very hot and dry year across Tenerife. This can be felt in the wines, and has led to reduced yields from white grapes: there's less Benje Blanco, Taganan Blanco, and Vidueño than usual this year. Yields for red grapes were less impacted.

Albahra comes from a different project, on the Spanish mainland near the historic town of Almansa in Castilla-Leon. The wine is a blend of Garnacha Tintorera from a single 3 Hectare vineyard, planted on clay-limestone, and the rare local grape Moravia Agria from a different vineyard near Manchuela on similar soils. This is has been one of my favorite red wines in the Spanish section here for years: it's approachable and easy to drink young, and it ages very well in the short term (at least up to 5 years, almost certainly beyond). The 2019 is outstanding.

-Ben Fletcher