Vinatigo Listan Negro

Tenerife is the largest of the Canary Islands, its vineyards climbing the volcanic slopes of Mount Teide. Viñátigo works in the northwest, around the village of La Guancha in the Ycoden-Daute-Isora zone, on the green, wetter northern face of the island. These are mid-altitude volcanic soils, and because phylloxera never reached the Canaries, many of the vines here are ungrafted and grow on their own original roots some more than a century old. It is one of the last places in Europe where the vineyard survived the vine plague untouched, which is a large part of why the island’s ancient grapes are still with us. This is a pure expression of Listán Negro, the Canaries’ great native red itself an island grape, born of a natural crossing of Listán Blanco and Negramoll. Hand-harvested, fermented on wild yeasts and given only a few months in old oak, it is made to show fruit and place rather than power. Expect a bright, juicy red often likened to a fine Beaujolais: crunchy dark cherry and berry fruit, a real snap of black and white pepper, and a smoky graphite and incense volcanic minerality running underneath.