2022 ENVINATE Tinto Taganan

Grape Varietal: Field Blend — Listán Negro, Listán Gaucho, Malvasia Negra, Baboso

Country: Spain

Region: Tenerife, Canary Islands

The Wine: Envínate — "wine yourself" — is the project of four friends, winemakers Roberto Santana, Alfonso Torrente, Laura Ramos, and José Martínez, who met studying enology at the University of Miguel Hernandez in Alicante and evolved their winemaking consultancy into a project focused on exploring distinctive parcels in the Atlantic-inflected regions of Ribeira Sacra and the Canary Islands. Their philosophy is simple: let each parcel fully express itself through old-fashioned farming, hand harvesting, foot treading, and fermentation exclusively with wild yeasts. Taganan draws from ancient untrained vines 70–300 years old planted on steeply terraced, sandy, basaltic soils on the northeast coast of Tenerife, from the waterline up to 300 meters above sea level. For the 2022, Envínate used more whole clusters with shorter macerations, aging in a mix of tank, 225L, and 500L neutral barrels for about eight months.

The 2022 Táganan Tinto is juicy and primary, with very good balance and no excess — less reductive than prior vintages, sapid and fresh, a pure volcanic expression of Tenerife. It opens with aromas of crushed red cherry, wild herbs, and pumice-laced smoke, lifted by violet and iron. On the palate, it is lithe and saline, with bright acidity, fine grippy tannin, and a long finish of dried cranberry and wet stone.

Pairing: Papas arrugadas with mojo rojo, grilled lamb chops with chimichurri, a plate of aged Manchego, or a slow Sunday roast pulled straight from the oven.