Envínate - 'Benje Tinto' - Listan Prieto - Canary Islands, ES - 2021

Benje Tinto is sourced from 1,000 meters elevation, old-vine, pie franco parcels of Listan Prieto (Mission) with a bit of Tintilla, named “Masca,” “La Zanja,” “Valle de Arriba,” and “Llano Redondo”, all of them located in Santiago del Teide. Each parcel is hand-harvested and vinified separately, some in concrete and some in small open tubs. Maceration is 10-30 days (depending on parcel) with daily punch-down; malolactic fermentation is in neutral French barriques, then raised 8 months in the same barrels without battonage. Bottling is without fining or filtration.

Origin
Santiago del Teide, Tenerife, Canary Islands.
Varieties
90% Listán Prieto, 9% Listán Blanco, 1% Tintilla
Vineyard
From several parcels of 70–120-year-old vines at 900- 1200m elevation farmed by Envínate and 15 local families. Viticulture here is highly traditional: vines grow untrained, the soils is worked by hand, and no chemicals are used.
Vinification Method
The grapes fermented by parcel with with native yeasts in a mixture of concrete vats and plastic tanks. All parcels completed spontaneous malolactic fermentation. After fermentation, the wine aged for eight months in 228-litre neutral French oak barrels (65%) and concrete tank (35%) without racking. Bottled without fining or filtering and with only a tiny addition of sulfur.

The 2021 vintage was, like the 2020 vintage, hot and dry, especially during the summer. However, rain in the spring and winter restored the vines’ water stores, and there was slightly more quantity in Santiago de Teide than in 2020.

Envínate

Envínate (translates as "wine yourself") is the brainchild of 4 friends, winemakers Roberto Santana, Alfonso Torrente, Laura Ramos, and José Martínez. This gang of 4 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.