In the intensifying heat, we're beginning to crave that summer escape to some imagined island paradise, free of worry, filled with wine. When lost in such fantasies, we can't help but gravitate towards the brilliant wines of the Canary Islands. With such great diversity of terroir spanning eight different islands, each representing a mosaic of microclimates, it should come as no surprise that there is a similarly eclectic selection of winemakers in the region. For today's email, we're happy to be putting the focus on Tenerife, where a handful of our favorite producers in the islands have forged a local wine scene that evokes much of what makes their majestic land so special.

What better way to start than with the wines of a longtime favorite producer of ours, Envinate. With little need for introduction, this winemaking collective has earned cult status for good reason. Having started back in 2005 with a commitment to rejecting the use of chemicals in their vineyards, they have proven themselves capable of achieving great heights and making world-class wines without compromising the values of their project. I found the Taganan Blanco and Tinto 2023’s were both standout wines, bursting in character, and that spoke to the strong vintage. Both are field blends, and this vintage features no reduction, perhaps a sign of evolution and maturation in the winemaking.  Happy to have them back!

We’re also excited for the return of Pablo Matallana‘s wines to our shelves. Pablo, farms 5 hectares of vines in both Lanzarote and Tenerife, the ladder of which he is from. Having graduated from oenology school at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Pablo has been making wine since 2015. With a variety of holdings, each wine gets approached differently, conveying to drinkers the wide-ranging potential of the terroir. The wine in focus today, La Bardona Vinas del Norte, comes from roughly 100-year-old vines of Listan Negro, which sit at 500 meters’ altitude in Tenerife. The grapes are left whole cluster and the maceration on the skins lasts only a few days before fermentation in the same stainless-steel vessel. The resulting wine is quite light with a blend of crunchy fruit and a peppery, savory quality, with the trademark Canary smokiness playing more of a supporting role.

Moving along, we’d be remiss to not offer a rosé amidst such hot weather, and Dolores Cabrera’s La Araucaria Rosado is our pick for today. Another Tenerife producer trying to spread the gospel of organic viticulture throughout her local winemaking community, and seeing some success, Dolores farms organically in the Valle de La Orotava. A particularly humid, drastically elevated area on the North side of Tenerife, Jose Pastor Selections points out on their website that wines from here are notably earthier than elsewhere on the island. It’s precisely this savory character to the wine which we love, as it captures the essence of the landscape without bowing to a more international style. Lovely watermelon and red fruit compliment the wine’s inherent mineral edge, and the generous acidity makes it even more appetizing.

Lastly, we recently included the husband-and-wife team of Loreto Pancorbo and Gabriel Morales Tierra Fundida in an offer, and it was met with enough excitement to warrant a return for today’s focus on Tenerife. Our newest discovery to the region, it's great to see a proliferation of low-intervention winemakers in a region spoiled with terroir so rich in character. With such little production, we feel spoiled to be getting more of their lo-fi, yet elegant wines. The Wanderer Tinto is a particularly nice complement to the rest of the lineup in this email, as it comes from an old vineyard from the Tacoronte Acentejo D.O, nearby the Valle de la Orotava. With all of these winemakers, Tenerife has an incredibly promising future, and we are hugely proud to highlight their tremendous work. 

Wines arrive next week, so please allow until 6/12 to pick up or ship