2022 Carmelo Pena Santana, Bien de Altura, Agan, Gran Canaria

Carmelo, a Gran Canaria native, was fortunate to gain access to several single vineyards planted to own-rooted vines. After spending time working with Dirk Niepoort, he returned home to craft wines that speak to the distinctive character of Gran Canaria, one of the lesser-known islands in the Canary archipelago. Three of his single-site bottlings—Tidao, Agan, and Sansofi—undergo a five-week, whole-bunch fermentation and maceration in open-top 500L French oak barrels, followed by one year of aging in seasoned 225–500L French oak. The wines are neither fined nor filtered.

From 90 y.o. own-rooted vines at 3600 ft elevation, north-east facing all on volcanic bedrock, with some sand and clay. Mostly Listan Negro, with a little bit of Listan Prieto, blanco and Malvasia. This is the last time we'll see this cuvee as the family who owns these vineyards/fruit now has aspirations of winemaking, so they will be keeping it for themselves! Smoky, peppery, a bit more fruit -  but ’22 was cooler vintage so it is all very poised.