Puro Rofe - Lanzarote Chibusque 2019 (750ml)

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ORIGIN

Spain

APPELLATION

Lanzarote

SOIL

Black volcanic sand over clay

AGE OF VINES

100+

ELEVATION

300 meters

VARIETIES

Diego

FARMING

Practicing organic

FERMENTATION

Hand harvested, crushed by foot in stone lagars, short maceration, natural yeast fer- mentation in a former Manzanilla cask

AGING

9 months in a former Manzanilla cask

PURO ROFE

Chibusque

Lanzarote is the easternmost of the Canary Islands, situated just 100km from the continent of Africa. The warmest and driest part of the Canaries, it receives a scant 6 inches of rainfall in an average year. Subjected to nearly constant winds blowing off the Sahara desert, known locally as alicios, this would be a challenging place to grow vines even if they were not planted on a vast and volatile volcanic fissure. The lunar landscape of Lanzarote was largely formed with an eruption that lasted from 1730 to 1736 which covered 200 square km of the islands with up to 3 meters of ash and lapilli. Viewed from space, the most notable features of the islands are a series of calderas that pockmark Lanzarote and a large black desert that dominates the northwestern part of the island – Los Volcanes National Park.

The raw materials of Lanzarote – the stark beauty, unique viticulture, indigenous and ancient vines has been on the mind of Rayco Fernandez for many years. A wine exporter based in Gran Canaria, Rayco had waited patiently for over a decade for the potential of Lanzarote to be discovered. From his interest in the island and the people he met there, Puro Rofe was created. While Rayco was the impetus for its creation, Puro Rofe, is a collaboration among local, like-minded grape growers Rafael (Chicho) Mota, Vicente Torres, Ascension Robaina and Pedro Umpiérrez. They tend vineyards surrounding Los Volcanes in the villages of La Geria, Tinajo, Masdache and Testeyna and all practice organic farming. The enologist at Puro Rofe is Carmelo Peña, a native of Gran Canaria who learned his trade there and in the Douro with Dirk Niepoort. Puro Rofe is based in La Geria at Chicho Mota’s small, museum-like bodega which preserves many of the traditional features of winemaking on Lanzarote – lagars, basket presses, and concrete vats which are now supplemented with clay amphorae as well.

Vijariego Blanco or Diego as it is known on Lanzarote and La Palma is a grape variety that originated in Andalucia and was brought to the Canary Islands when they were first colonized. Remarkable for its tendency to ripen at 11.5% alc/vol while retaining a high level of acidity, it is frequently used as the base for sparkling wines or to provide freshness in a white blend. Rayco and Carmelo however, prefer to select one of Vincent Torres’ oldest parcels of Diego to make Chibusque - a pure example of this frequently overlooked variety. It is fermented and aged in a decommissioned Manzanilla cask.

ACCOLADES

94 – 2019 Chibusque – Wine Advocate 92 – 2018 Chibusque – Wine Advocate

The second and just-bottled vintage of the Sherried Diego, the 2019 Chibusque has a full 1% less alcohol than the 2018 and has more freshness and acidity. This time they racked it four months after the fermentation, and it was put back in the Sherry "bota" where it fermented for a further five months. They harvested earlier in 2019, and the palate is vibrant and wild, with pungent flavors, fine, direct, clean and long. It has the volcanic ash quality and the smoky twist that all of these whites have, reflecting the powerful volcanic soils where the vines are planted. This is all about the soil, not about the cask. I'd love to see what this does with five or six years in bottle. Only 650 bottles were filled in June 2020.

The second and just-bottled vintage of the Sherried Diego, the 2019 Chibusque has a full 1% less alcohol than the 2018 and has more freshness and acidity. This time they racked it four months after the fermentation, and it was put back in the Sherry "bota" where it fermented for a further five months. They harvested earlier in 2019, and the palate is vibrant and wild, with pungent flavors, fine, direct, clean and long. It has the volcanic ash quality and the smoky twist that all of these whites have, reflecting the powerful volcanic soils where the vines are planted. This is all about the soil, not about the cask. I'd love to see what this does with five or six years in bottle. Only 650 bottles were filled in June 2020.