Viñatigo - Listan Negro, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain (2023)

TASTING NOTES

A delightful and juicy red, with aromas of black pepper, dark fruits, and a strong mineral, volcanic character

Juan Jesús, who is a 4th generation winemaker, founded Viñátigo in 1990 and has worked tirelessly since then identifying, recuperating the native grapes of the Canary Islands.

Listán Negro is a grape that Viñátigo cultivates in the mid-lands, in the north-west of Tenerife. This grape is a native grape variety of the Canary Islands, as it originated from a natural crossing between the grapes Listán Blanco and Negramoll, both brought by Portuguese and Andalusian settlers between the 15th and 18th centuries.The grapes are hand-harvested by mid- September and the wine ages in old barrels for three months.

Driven by passion and love for his homeland, Juan decided to revive and work to save the native grape varieties that were brought to the Canary Islands by the conquers back in the 15th century and that had survived on the islands for centuries. He is a hero of contemporary Canarian viticulture. The wealth of knowledge that his work has created has helped underpin the significant expansion of wine styles that are now available throughout the archipelago, and his wines have achieved a calibre of class that many doubted the Canaries would ever produce again. (The Epic Wines of the Canary Islands, written by Santo Bains).