Region: Tenerife Grapes: Palomino First Glance: Crystalline purity, Sea-spray, Green apple crunch
The Wine: Palo Blanco refers to a small section of vineyards just to the south of the town of Los Realejos. It's here, of all the valley of Orotava, that the ultra-fine-black volcanic sand has accumulated and consequently the area has always been famed for producing the finest, most elegant whites of the region. Envinate farm five small plots within this area which lie between 500m and 850m above sea level, all while being no more than a couple of kilometers from the ocean. All five plots are over 100 years old and are pruned in the traditional Tezendo fashion where new shoots and progressively wrapped around old growth so the vines become 'dreadlocked' as the wind themselves across the land. These were the last plots to be harvested and were fermented in concrete without temperature control before being transferred to an old 2,500l foudre. Palo Blanco is probably the most crystalline and mineral wine Envinate produce. Structurally it has a lot in common with great Loire Chenin; pure, driven, age-worthy white but across that structure sits the wild flavour profile of Tenerife, flint, graphite, ocean spray all sitting amongst the crunch of green apple skin.
