RP 95

The 2020 Migan is a red from La Orotava and was produced with Listan Negro grapes from the village of La Perdoma, whose ancient name was Migan. It comes from four plots - Montijo (40% of the grapes), Tio Luis (30%), La Habanera (20%) and Las Suertes (10%) - on red volcanic soils and at different altitudes, between 350 and 600 meters above sea level, where altitude defines the character of the plot. In 2020, they didn't use the San Antonio vineyard that was used in previous vintages; it has been replaced by Montijo. 2020 was an early harvest, and the grapes fermented by plot, always with indigenous yeasts, and 70% of the wine matured in neutral 500- and 600-liter oak barrels, while the wine from Tio Luis matured in concrete. The change in vineyards (they abandoned the one with more clay at lower altitude and increased in higher altitude and with less clay) has given the wine an extra kick. These wines reward time in bottle, and they need at least one year. Right now, this feels a little closed and tight, but it has great freshness and finer tannins and, in the long run, should make a better wine than the 2019. 11,500 bottles and 300 magnums were produced. It was bottled in December 2021.

I tasted the 2019s and 2020s from Envinate in the Canary Islands, where they produced wines from different zones in Tenerife, in the north in Taganana, La Orotava and now also in Tacoronte-Acentejo, and in the south in Santiago del Teide. Both vintages were warm and dry, but 2020 is clearly superior for the white wines. Envinate is planning to build a brand-new winery from scratch, but the project will take a couple of years, so the objective is to vinify the 2023 vintage there. In Tenerife, they produce 100,000 bottles (in 2021), but some vintages are shorter, like 2020 when they produced 85,000 bottles. Their idea is to produce a grand total of 200,000 bottles between Canary Islands, Galicia and the Mediterranean.

In Santiago del Teide in the south, they had half the rain they used to get before 2017, so very low yields. 2020 was a hurried ripeness, and all the zones ripened at the same time and very early. 2019 was a more balanced year. At La Orotava, both vintages were very good, without the issue with fog. But 2020 was also warmer, with a sunstroke during the summer that could easily produce some over-ripeness. They harvested some plots earlier and avoided that.

The wine from Tacoronte-Acentejo is closer to the character of the wines from Taganana. They started there with a wine in 2020 that could be within the appellation of origin, but as the winery is outside the limits of the appellation, they cannot sell the wine with the appellation of origin. In Taganana, they did a great interpretation of the 2020 vintage, even if both were very dry.