El Chibirique
2017
Region
Spain › Canary Islands › Valle de la Orotava DO
Type
red · still
Grapes
Listán Negro
Alcohol
13%
Volume
750 mL
Tasting Notes
At first, the sulphur is a bit startling - but give it time and it starts to reveal much prettier layers: wild strawberries, gouache, and those charming cornichon notes you sometimes get in old Burgundy. The balance is already impressive - great acidity, firm tannins - but it's not quite fully there yet. Still, the wine is beautiful, charged, and long. Very Burgundian in spirit, with excellent concentration and a promising future.
A bottle of novelties. This is my first Listán Negro and my first Valle de la Orotava DO. Complex, delicate and bright at the same time. Ash, cherry, cranberry, mushroom and some cured notes. Great acidity, firm tannin with some good mineral finish. Still has potential. Need to taste it again.
About
Suertes del Marqués El Chibirique 2017 comes from a small, 0.4-hectare plot in the Orotava Valley, on the north side of Tenerife. The vines, over 80 years old and ungrafted, are trained in the traditional cordón trenzado style --- a striking braiding technique unique to this region. The vineyard sits at 380--420 metres above sea level, on volcanic soils facing northeast, and is farmed organically.
This is 100% Listán Negro, fermented with whole bunches and native yeasts, then aged for 11 months in neutral 500-litre French oak barrels. The wine was bottled unfiltered.
El Chibirique belongs to the "Parcel" line of Suertes del Marqués --- wines vinified separately from individual plots on the estate, each telling its own precise story of place, vine, and time.
