White Wine
Listán Blanco
Sustainable, Vegan-Friendly, Volcanic
Dry
Light Bodied
750ml
12.5% alc./vol

Viñátigo Listán Blanco de Canarias 2023

Canary Islands, Spain

92 points (2021) - Wine Align

$32.95per bottle ($395.40per case)
12 bottles per case

Crisp & Salty

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. The grape Listán Blanco de Canarias was brought to the Canary Islands in the 18th century by the Andalusian conquers. Viñátigo cultivates it in the high-lands that sit at 500 meters of altitude.

The vines are trained in ‘parrales’, a training method inherited by the Portuguese community that settled on the northern part of the island back in the 15th century. These vertical structures adapt to the hills and ravines created by the last eruptions of Teide volcano towards the north of the island. This wine is very fresh and has a vibrant acidity. On the nose, it has fragrant aromas of fennel, dried fruits and fig tree leaves; as well as a distinct mineral quality that is a result of the volcanic soils.

This crisp white calls for grilled fish, potatoes and 'mojo verde', a typical sauce from the Islands made of garlic, cilantro and olive oil.

About the Winery

Viñátigo

Juan Jesús is a proud native of Tenerife and the fourth generation of growers. During the thirty years that he's overseen Bodegas Viñátigo, he has considerably increased its holdings, planting varieties that he and his team recuperated from near extinction.

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).

Press Reviews

Wine Align

92 points - David Lawrason

From high altitude volcanic-soiled vineyards in the Canary Islands this is from the local listan grape, also known as palomino fina, related to the white grape grown in Jerez to make sherry. It is light to medium bodied, fresh and lively with trace minerality. Not tart acidity but enough to keep it in ballast. The fruit is pear, guava, lemon amid the reductive mineral notes, plus a distinct sourdough yeastiness on the nose that immediately recalled fino sherry. The length is excellent. Tasted December 2022.

91 points - Michael Godel

Viñátigo Listán Blanco 2021 initially emits this unusually funky and exotic perfume of wet basalt or concrete mixed with washed manchego cheese rind but quickly comes together as one inviting scent. Preps the palate for wanting a taste to see what comes next and the clarity shines right away, of gemstones and the salty sweat of craggy wet stones. There is some orchard fruit but what matters most is the saline-mineral comport. It's like a compôte of imagination built on fruit and volcanics melted into a salad that spoons straight on down. Bloody delicious and well-made. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted December 2022.

91 points - John Szabo, MS

2021 marks another fine vintage for this reliably intriguing and interesting, complex wine from own-rooted listán blanco (aka palomino fino), quite ripe, showing pineapple and quince, baked apple and apple blossom flavours, less immediately flinty-reductive than the previous vintage and with more fruit. The palate is mid-weight and creamy, with balanced acids and very good length. Really delicious now, though should continue to gain in non-fruit complexity over the next 1-3 years, or hold into the mid-'20s. Tasted December 2022.