Case of Envínate Lousas Viña de Aldea 2023 | Ribeira Sacra | $60.50 per bottle

Envínate Lousas Viña de Aldea 2023 | Vino de España, Ribeira Sacra

95 Points — Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate

Producer: Envínate
Region: Amandi, Ribeiras del Sil & Quiroga — Ribeira Sacra, Galicia, Spain
Classification: Vino de España
Grape Variety: Mencía (~85%) with Brancellao, Merenzao, Mouraton, Grao Negro, Garnacha Tintorera and other co-planted indigenous varieties Viticulture: Organic, hand-farmed, foot-trodden, indigenous yeasts
ABV: 12.5%

The Vibe Aldea means village in Galician. This is Envínate's village wine — their entry point into Ribeira Sacra, and simultaneously one of the most consistent, sought-after sub-€50 reds in Spain (note our fair pricing). It is produced from a combination of old plots across the ancient vineyard region of Ribeira Sacra, ranging in elevation between 400 and 600 metres on gneiss, granite, and slate soils, worked entirely by hand on slopes too steep for machinery. The 2023 is the largest vintage Envínate has ever produced here — and still one of the most precise.

The Taste It's a lighter-medum bodied red with the following hints: red cherries, ash, dried hibiscus, and a nervy herbal, smoke note on the nose. The palate is carefully balanced with discreet structure, a delicate thread of fruit, and silky, well-integrated tannins. The 2023 has more fluidity and less concentration than 2022 — more generous in yield, with a profile similar to 2021 or 2016, floral, fragrant and fine-boned. A difficult vintage in the vineyard — extreme rain in June, heat spikes of 41°C in late August, interrupted harvests through September — and yet the wine shows none of that struggle. Only the precision of old vines on slate doing what they have always done. This is according to Luis Gutierrez of the Wine Advocate is on the best vintages of this cuvee to date. 

The Story Envínate — "wine yourself" — was founded in 2005 by Roberto Santana, Alfonso Torrente, Laura Ramos, and José Martínez, four friends who met studying oenology at the University of Miguel Hernández in Alicante. Lousas takes its name from the Galician word for the slate soils that define the Amandi sub-zone of Ribeira Sacra — the same ancient terraces where monks planted vines a thousand years ago and nobody has found a reason to stop since. Each plot is harvested and fermented separately in open-top concrete and plastic fermenters, with between 0% and 30% of grapes destemmed depending on the parcel, and skin contact lasting 25–60 days. No oak. 31,000 bottles produced in 2023 — their most generous vintage to date.

Best Enjoyed With Serve lightly chilled at 13–14°C. Grilled salmon, roast pork, octopus a feira, wild mushrooms, or Galician tetilla. At 12.5% alcohol this is one of the most food-versatile reds in the portfolio — and the one most likely to disappear fastest.

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