Oh that volcanic goodness. Solid, even translucent ruby throughout. Grimy roasted nose cramming all that black cinder and melted glass aridness into you, fruit a black figgy nectar with gobs of achy briar, rosin and lanolin. So good. So weird. And I wouldn’t change a TICK of it. Love these wines, and grab them EVERY TIME I see them. So should you.
In the mouth, the bouquet that puts off so many people turns to pure fruit magic. Of course, people like us integrate the nose seamlessly into intake, and they work off each other, but for those who can’t get past the vegetal funk, I can at least tell you the mouthfeel is straight-forward. Nah… nevermind: I can’t do it. You’re gonna hate this wine, so don’t even try. This is a 1% wine, plain-and-simple. There’s no Chinon- or Cru-Bojo- or Alto Adige-style convincing of Caymus-Bro or Saldo-Chick to see good things and haltingly agree to enjoy. NEVER gonna happen with Tenerife. This is NOT a conversion wine. Just save it for your real drinking friends.
On uptake, all those dusty, dirty, raw-potato, avocado-pit and coal-smoke nuances fresh in your nostrils dive seamlessly into the sharp cranberry briar and black walnut intensity just eviscerating and shocking: they quickly evolve INTO it, leaving nary a splash as they are enveloped in fruit positively jammy, but thin–that weird juxtaposition between light and thick; between clear and opaque; between shit you understand and stuff you can’t explain. These wines defy pigeon-holed cabernet and pinot and syrah methods of definition. The rich fat middle throbs dusty cherry, strawberry-rhubarb and unscalable walls of ridiculous grapefruit minerality. The bitter shriek of finish fruit-pit and more vegetal clamors over and around both gorgeous sweet berry and mind-numbing tannin, cutting everything off short in a postlude of fire and brimstone doused in holy water.
These wines make you weep. There’s no way a schmuck like me can even TRY to explain them.
2017 SUERTES DEL MARQUES ‘Medianlas’ Listan Negro Valle de la Orotave Tenerife Canary Is. 13.0
Stephen McConnell 