Lousas Parcela ’Seoane’ - Mencia & co. (22)

90% Mencia met o.a. Brancellao, Merenzao, Grao Negro, Garnacha Tintorera (Alicante Bouschet) e.a. |  'Seoane' wijngaard | rondom het dorp Doade, in de regio Amandi | 80-100 jaar oude stokken | terroir van gneiss, schist en kwartsiet | whole bunch | vergisting in open kuipen | rijping in gebruikt Frans eiken van 500, 400 en 228 liter voor 12 maanden | 2200 flessen gemaakt | bruisend karakter | open | viooltjes | bloedsinaasappel | kruiden | parfum | stenig | finesse

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

I also had the chance to taste the still-unbottled 2022 Lousas Parcela Seoane that had already been taken out of barrel, put in stainless steel and the sulfur was adjusted, so it's pretty close to what the bottled wine should be. This is a specific plot in the village of Doade with gneiss and quartz. It has the expressive nose of the zone, serious and mineral, but with a perfumed nose too, with a note of blood orange and the faint volatility that lifts up the nose. There's a lot of energy here; it excels in 2022. It comes from very old vines planted in the 1930s. There will be around 2,000 bottles that they expect to fill around November 2023. 96-97/100 Luis Gutiérrez

The wines from Envínate, one of the most dynamic projects in Spain, are increasingly sought after in international markets. So, from now on, I will start tasting the wines every 12 months, giving a preview of the unbottled wines from the last harvest and the bottled ones in the market. From Ribeira Sacra, it's the bottled 2021s and the 2022s in barrel, two very different harvests. There are two new village wines from 2021, a vintage with good yields again. 2021 is a cool, classical vintage that shows quite transparently the character of the places, while the 2022s are a little rounder and more immediate, even if they ended up being much fresher than initially expected. 2020 was an earlier harvest (2017 was the earliest ever). In 2022, they started early, and in 2023 they started early too but then it was a long harvest because they had to stop because of the rain.