2021 Bimbache Tinto

Bimbache is the name of the former inhabitants of the small island of El Hierro, the westernmost and smallest of the Canary Islands. After the conquest by the Spanish in 1405, the local inhabitants or Bimbaches were sold as slaves a few years later. However, it is also and above all the name of one of the most imaginative wine projects of recent years in Spain. Rayco Fernández (we also know him from the project "Puro Rofe" in Lanzarote), is a local wine distributor in Gran Canaria with an immense knowledge of the potential and the future of the vineyards of the islands. In El Hierro not many hectares of vineyards were left. Especially along the steep northern side of the island there are still few winegrowers who dare to take their chance. The yields are often too small to legitimize the investment. Rayco nevertheless took his chance and the wines have now become a household name. The wines of Bimbache are so different, so original and above all so Atlantic. The island is a treasure trove of almost disappeared or forgotten grape varieties that no longer occur anywhere or at least not in the quality as they occur here. Luis Gutiérrez for Parker says: "El Hierro is a tiny island that is considered the repository of local grape varieties, as it has been frozen in time for a long time. In fact, everything is so slow there that visiting the island is akin to time traveling. The risk is that many vineyards are being abandoned, as there is a lack of young people to take over. Thank God for projects like this! They have two hectares of vineyards and work a further three hectares from local growers, and in 2019 they produced a grand total of 5,000 bottles." The Bimbache Tinto is a blend of Listan Negro, Listan Prieto, Verijadiego tinto. These are typical (and unique) grapes located on the south side of the Canary Island El Hierro. This place is warmer and better suited for the red grapes. The places to grow grapes for red wine on this island are very limited so that is why there is only a small volume (although volume is already extremely low with around 5000 bottles in total for Bimbache. The south side is very volcanic and there are only a few places where planting vineyards is possible but what comes from it is downright great. All the vineyards are farmed organically and the wines are made in a non-interventionist way, with only the addition of sulphites during bottling, without clarifying or filtering. Only around 500 bottles are made of this. The grapes for the Bimbache Tinto are destemmed and then macerated for 2 weeks in stainless steel vats. Fermentation without temperature control - nature must do its work. Then a further storage period of almost a year in the vats. Only indigenous yeasts are used. Is bottled without clearing or filtering. In the glass, the Bimbache Tinto has a very clear, light ruby red colour. In the nose we smell aromas of potpourri, lava stone, pumice stone and mineral notes. Very original. In the mouth beautiful acids and fine tannins. The wine is very elegant with a good backbone and a long "volcanic" aftertaste. It is advisable to decant the wine when it is young