Benje Blanco - Listan Blanco (21)

Listán Blanco (Palomino Fino) | verschillende percelen net buiten Santiago del Teide op de Pico del Teide | 900-1200 meter hoogte (boven de wolken) | 70-120 jaar oude stokken | terroir van zwart vulkanisch zand en klei | vergisting in beton | rijping op de lie, 30% in gebruikt Frans eiken en 70% in betonnen tank | in een betonnen tank ontstond er een flor laag | ongeveer 30% van de wijn rijpt onder flor | indrukwekkend wit | zilt | puur | rokerig | venkel | spanning | decanteren aanbevolen

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

2020 was also very dry, like 2019 in Santiago del Teide in the south of Tenerife. The grapes for the 2020 Benje Blanco were picked earlier than ever, starting in mid-August. The wine fermented by plot in concrete with indigenous yeasts, and 20% of the volume matured in an oval 2,500-liter oak foudre and the rest in concrete, where half of it developed a thin layer of flor yeasts that give it a sharper texture rather than aromas or flavors, as these yeasts eat glycerin and make finer wines. So, the flor is only in 40% of the wine, less than in 2019. The difference here is that they stopped controlling the temperature (something they already did with Palo Blanco) and they stopped using 228-liter barrels and moved to 350-liter barrels from Chassagne-Montrachet. It makes the wine more expressive of the soils and with less fruit character. All this has increased clarity and definition in the white wines from Tenerife. This is livelier. 15,000 bottles and 150 magnums were produced. It was bottled in June 2021. 93/100 Luis Gutiérrez

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.