94-96 pts Wine Advocate
Drink Date: 2025 - 2032
I tasted a very promising barrel sample of the 2023 Lousas Viñas de Aldea, cropped from a more Atlantic, cooler and rainier year (especially when compared with the super warm and dry 2022). Right now, it's super primary (the blend will have some 40% to 45% wine from concrete), and they are slowly introducing larger oak foudres (3,000 liters) and lowering the impact of the oak in the wine. This has very good freshness, purity and elegance, reminiscent of past vintages like 2021 or 2016. It has terrific balance. There will be around 32,000 bottles that should be filled in November 2024.
Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez
I tasted the bottled 2022s and barrel samples from 2023 from Envínate in Ribeira Sacra—but the wines are still sold without appellation of origin—two very different years in the zone. 2022 was very warm and dry, and 2023 was a very rainy year, a vintage like yesteryear with some peaks of heat at the end of August, which made them start earlier. Even though they thinned the crop, it was the most generous yield ever, and the wines have more fluidity and less concentration than 2022, similar to 2021 or 2016. 2022 was a little riper, but the wines kept the balance and were quite immediate from very early on. In 2022, there was no Camiño Novo because of hail. In 2023, they will produce a total of 47,000 bottles, their largest year so far. Published: Jul 11, 2024

Mainly (~85%) Mencía, with Brancellao, Merenzao, Mouraton, Grao Negro, Garnacha Tintorera, and other indigenous varieties (white and red) co -planted.

Aldea means “village” in Gallego; thus, this is Envínate’s “village wine”, produced from a combination of old plots located in the ancient vineyard region of Ribeira Sacra.

This wine is a blend of many plots across Ribeira Sacra that are mainly (~85%) Mencía, with Brancellao, Merenzao, Mouraton, Grao Negro, Garnacha Tintorera, and other indigenous varieties (white and red) co-planted.
Vineyards: The plots used for this wine are in the Amandi, Ribeiras del Sil and Quiroga regions of Ribeira Sacra and range in elevation between 400 and 600 meters. The vines are 25 to 60 years old, and the majority of the soils are gneiss, with some granite and slate. Winemaking:  Each of the plots was harvested and fermented separately in open-top concrete and plastic fermenters. Depending on the plot, a portion (ranging from 0% to 30%) of the grapes were destemmed and skin contact lasted between 25 and 60 days. After alcoholic fermentation, the wine was transferred to concrete tanks (20%) and used French oak barrels (80%) where it completed malolactic fermentation and rested on its lees for 11 months before bottling.