Envínate - Ribeira Sacra

We had a very special vist to the Ribeira Sacra vineyard with Alfonso Torrente in the summer of 2022. He is one of the four member of the Envinate team. Alfonso is born close the Rio Sil and is responsible for the vineyard and vines in this small region. My visits before with Pedro of Guimaro made huge impressions on me. I don’t know maybe another place in the world where the vineyard are so gorgeous as in Ribeira Sacra. The super steep vineyards in the deep valley of the Rio Sil gives you an incredible feeling. People are making here wine for more than 1000 years. Most of the vines are very old here, 60-120 years is rather the rule than an exception. 

We started off in Rosende, this is small valley not direct connected to the Rio Sil. The soils more granite than slate or gneiss and the Envinate team owns here 7 small plots. All of them are field blend with mainly Mencia, Brancellao, Merenzao and a percentages of white grapes. In the tasting the wine from Rosende showed a little lighter and fresher than those from Amandi and Doade. 

After lunch we had a second stop at the 'Camiño Novo' parcel. The vineyard goes all the way up from the bottom at the river till the highest peak. They use a small cable machine to move equipment and during harvest the grapes to get them up the slope. This specific parcel has more shadow during the day and is picked as latest of all plots. The soils are here mainly Gneiss with a little bit of slate. The sensation of the fruit in the wines is just outrageous. So deep and pure soft black fruit, smooth tannines and a truly briljant acidity. A true Grand Cru. 

Then the parcels we have visited are more in the Doade part where there is more slate and more exposition to the sun. The wines show richer and have more body. The other single plot who is been bottles separately is called ‘Seoane’ is a good example of a warmer and riper wine. The new blend for the Doade piece contains many great plots like 'Meixeman'. However its hard to compare, you can taste the Envinate vibe from the Canaries as well here. Pure and deep wines that are super joyful to drink.

In the cellar everything seems very ease here. Ferments in concrete with a big percentage of whole buch. Most of the wines are aged in older oak barrels and foudres. After afing it is blended and they add a little bit of sulphur. The warmes vintages are showing up here more and more. One of the solutions is by grafting more Brancellao. This grape variety has a super deep and pure character with a great acidity. Before the Phylloxera grape plague the vineyards in the region where mainly planted with the Brancellao. Due the pressure of the heat there is a big new threat for the region and is called ‘black rot’. It is a fungus that occurs during the extreme temperatures and will stop the vines completely and the grapes considered lost. This happened already in 2018 at all the plots.