Description
Envínate (“wine yourself”) is the brainchild of Laura Ramos, Jose Martínez, Roberto Santana and Alfonso Torrente, four friends who met while studying winegrowing at the University of Miguel Hernández in Alicante. Their work, both in the vineyard and winery, is currently focused on exploring the ancient, Atlantic-infused terruños of Ribeira Sacra and the Canary Islands, as well as exceptional vineyard plots across the Iberian Peninsula. The Envínate philosophy is simple: let each parcela, or single parcel, fully express itself in the finished wine by utilizing old-fashioned farming and winemaking methods. The results are some of the most exciting wines being produced in Spain today.
Lousa is the name for the slate soil that predominates in the Ribeira do Sil and Amandi subzones of the Ribeira Sacra region. The slate serves a great purpose, heating up during the daytime sun to help the grapes ripen, as well as imparting the minerality and intensely floral and spicy aromatics that are the trademarks of the Ribeira Sacra region’s wines. Aldea means “village” in the Galician dialect. In addition to focusing on single parcel wines, Envínate produces village wines in each region where they work. For their village wine, the Mencía and other co-planted grapes were hand-harvested, fermented 100% whole cluster with wild yeasts in open-top plastic tubs with 25–40 days maceration, then raised in used 300L and 400L French oak for 11 months with no racking. A touch of SO2 is added only at bottling, and the finished wine sees no fining or filtration.
