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Baboso Negro 'Ignios Origenes', Borja Perez Viticultor, Tenerife, Spain 2017
Baboso Negro 'Ignios Origenes', Borja Perez Viticultor, Tenerife, Spain 2017
This was our favourite red wine at Vinateros, the ‘new wave’ Spanish trade tasting that takes place in London every 2 years. It’s made from the Baboso Negro grape grown on the western side of Tenerife in the trips-off-the-tongue appellation of Ycoden-Daute-Isora. As you would expect, it has a subtle, volcanic smokiness to it, as well as a peppery character, but there’s so much more to it than spice and mineral accents. It’s taut, nervy and focused on the palate, offering zesty red berry and violet flavours, but the fruit is succulent and sweet and fills the mouth with floral cherry and pomegranate and a little nutty oak, finishing on a tender note that evokes some of the best wines from Beaujolais or the Jura. Exceptional!
Technical data: Baboso Negro from a single vineyard called La Vizacondesa. 20-year-old ungrafted vines planted on clay-loamy soils. 30% of the grapes are whole-bunch fermented without crushing. Cold maceration for 48 hours followed by stainless-steel fermentation.. After pressing, the wine is racked into used 600-litre French oak casks. Barrel maturation lasts 12 months and the wine is not stabilised or filtered. Organic farming.
Press review:
The Wine Advocate: “As with the rest of the wines, I tasted two vintages of this red, so I also sampled the 2017 Ignios Orígenes Baboso Negro, which matured in a 1,500-litre oak foudre (and one barrique), so the rate at which the wine takes oxygen during the élevage was very different from the 2016. This felt much younger, and it had a creamy twist that was probably added by the new oak in which it was aged. It has plenty of fine-grained tannins that might require a little more time in bottle. Drink now-2024.” 93 points
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Other wines from the same producer…
The Artifice Tinto 2022 is made from Listan Negro and has everything you could desire from a Tenerife red, evoking wild cherry, pomegranate, strawberry and burnt orange peel. It’s only medium-bodied and fairly dainty for a red wine, with a tender core of sweet red cherry and raspberry fruit, similar in its flavour DNA to a Pinot Noir, but with intriguing background hints of smolten rock and the iron forge.
It’s the sort of wine I would love to be served at a groovy wine-bar like Sager and Wilde or The Remedy, either on its own or with food, or on my own or with company, because even if I’m on my own, it’s bound to pique the curiosity of my fellow drinkers and I probably won’t be drinking alone for long. 12% alc.. 10 months in oak. Organic/ biodynamically farmed. Drink now-2029.
Organic farming
Press reviews:
The Wine Advocate (previous vintage): “The 2021 Artífice Tinto follows the path of 2018, with concrete, foudre and barrels, part of stems and a fresh and more Atlantic character. It has a moderate 12% alcohol but is still juicy and gentle, with its medium-bodied palate and fine-grained texture, floral and always peppery with volcanic echoes. Drink now-2028.” 93+ points
Decanter (previous vintage): “Inheriting the family estate in 2011, former racing car mechanic Borja Pérez opted to make his own wine rather than sell off his grapes locally – a crucial decision that led to him becoming one of the best viticulturists in the Canary Islands, sourcing old-vine fruit from small growers locally. His Artifice Tinto is a definitive expression of the Listán Negro grape grown on the Tenerife’s volcanic soils. Floral and dark fruit notes. Full-bodied, with a line of fresh orange acidity. Ultimately there’s a citrus freshness, and a long, concentrated finish." 95 points
Jancis Robinson MW (previous vintage): “Very stinky nose - too much for me!” 14.5 points [i.e. it’s not to everyone’s taste!]
Customer comments:
“The Tenerife wine is delicious!” - Mr A.R.
“A wine that strums my heartstrings.” - Tamlyn Currin for JancisRobinson.com
This is a terrific wine from Marco de Grazia of Tenuta delle Terre Nere, who, in 2006, was offered two small parcels on Mount Etna in the crus of Feudo di Mezzo and Moganazzi, which were too small to blend into Terre Nerre’s cuvees, and so this project was born, named after his daughter, Eli, whose crayon drawings have adorned the labels ever since, changing each year as she grows up. It has the gorgeous aromas that we look for in proper Etna Rosso, with that telltale note of peach fuzz and apricot skin, as well as dried cherries and whetstone, plumped up on the palate by sweeter flavours of pomegranate and wild strawberry. 13% alc. 12 months on 20% new oak. Drink now-2027.
Press review:
JancisRobinson.com: “Licking terracotta tiles on a hot summer day after a thunderstorm; eating small red cherries fallen onto an old, crumbling stone wall; pomegranate seeds crushed between rough concrete. Transparent as stained glass, rugged as weathered brick. Incense and under-log earthy; crushed radicchio and soft triangles and columbine-scented five-pointed stars of flavour of earth and flower and root and fruit and stone. A wine that strums my heartstrings… (TC). Drink now-2027.“ 17.5 points
Customer comment:
“I have popped the Etna Rosso La Vigne di Eli and have to say it’s lovely, light, refreshing and invigorating in equal measure, and your tasting note is absolutely spot on.” - Mr A.H.