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Tasting Notes(3)
4.2
Oh, this is neat - giving it enough time to breathe paid off. Pencil lead, dark fruits (blackberry, cherry), blood, dried herbs, bay leaf. Mineral, fresh, well-balanced - beautiful. Probably the best bottle of this release I've had.
Second bottle, and indeed different from the first. More lifted, more elegant, less oxidised. The perfume leads - red fruit, dried herbs - then precision follows, with that thread of minerality pulling everything taut. Still somehow reminds me of Negramoll: the volcanic-mineral edge, a hint of natty fizziness. Hard to explain, but the energy is similar. Great wine.
About
Lousas Parcela Rosende from Envínate, a project by four winemakers working across Spain's most distinctive terroirs. The Lousas wines come from Ribeira Sacra - steep terraced vineyards along the Sil and Miño rivers in Galicia. The 2023s are sold as Vino de Mesa, without appellation of origin.
Rosende sits on the eastern edge of Ribeira Sacra and is the only Lousas site on granite - decomposed sandy granite with feldspar crystals - while the other Lousas parcels (Seoane, Camiño Novo, and the Aldea-tier village blend) work slate. Field blend of mostly Mencía (~85%) with co-planted Brancellao, Mouratón, Garnacha Tintorera, and Merenzao. Picked 13 September. Fermented with full clusters in open bins and a large concrete vat, matured in neutral 228L barrels plus a 2,000L oak foudre for around a year, bottled November 2024. 12.7% alcohol. 4,960 bottles and 45 magnums produced.
The 2023 Ribeira Sacra vintage was challenging: a rainy winter, normal sprouting, then 11 days of non-stop rain in June that complicated vineyard work. July and August were dry until a late-August heat wave brought peaks of 41°C and lows of 22°C. Harvest started at the end of August and ran through September with rain interruptions forcing multiple stops. The warmer zones suffered most; Envínate's response was rigorous sorting and discarding. The wines came through floral, fragrant, and fine-boned. Drink window: 2025-2035.
