2021 Bimbache Blanco

Bimbache is the name of the former inhabitants of the small island of El Hierro, the westernmost and smallest island of the Canary Islands. After being conquered by the Spanish in 1405, the local inhabitants or Bimbaches were sold as slaves a few years later. However, it is also and above all the name of one of the most imaginative wine projects of recent years in Spain. Rayco Fernández (we also know him from the "Puro Rofe" project in Lanzarote), is a local wine distributor in Gran Canaria with an immense knowledge of the potential and future of the islands' vineyards. Not many hectares of vineyards remained in El Hierro. Certainly along the steep north side of the island there are still few wine growers who take their chances. The returns are often too small to legitimize the investment. Rayco took a chance and the wines are now a household name. The wines of Bimbache are so different, so original and above all so Atlantic.

The island is a treasure trove of almost disappeared or forgotten grape varieties that are nowhere to be found or at least not in the capacity as they are found here. Luis Gutiérrez for Parker says: "El Hierro is a tiny island that is considered the repository of local grape varieties, as it has been frozen in time for a long time. In fact, everything is so slow there that visiting the island is akin to time traveling.The risk is that many vineyards are being abandoned, as there is a lack of young people to take over.Thank God for projects like this!They have two hectares of vineyards and work a further three hectares from local growers, and in 2019 they produced a grand total of 5,000 bottles."

The Bimbache Blanco is a blend of Baboso blanco, Gual, Listan blanco, Pedro Ximenez, Verijadiego blanco. These are typical (and unique) grapes from the north slope of El Hierro. The grapes get a soft pressing of the whole bunches. Then fermentation on stainless steel cuves and aging on Stöckinger foeder, stainless steel and part on older barriques where the wine develops flor that gives it a delicious but typical aroma. Only with indigenous yeasts and minimal addition of sulphite when bottling.

In the glass, the Bimbache Blanco has a beautiful, fresh, clear straw yellow color. In the nose we first smell notes of citrus fruit with some pineapple in the background. The fruit gradually evolves into a nice spiciness of bay leaf and some fennel. This is a wine with Atlantic sea injection and therefore has a strong acidity that gives the wine backbone. Firm in the mouth, but also with the typical salty notes of a limited flor maturation. This is not wine for beginners, but oh so beautiful and unique and with a lot of character. The Bimbache Blanco has a long finish with a lot of freshness. It is certainly a wine that will continue to refine in the bottle due to its sturdy backbone and has a drinking window until 2027 or longer.

Advice is to decant the wine in his youth.