Verdejo Negro

Escolinas Verdejo Negro is a single-varietal wine from the Principality of Asturias, also called Baboso in the Canary Islands or Alfrocheiro in Portugal. Verdejo Negro is the rarest red variety in Cangas. It is an ancient grape with a long history in European vineyards, known as Trousseau in France (Jura), Bastardo in Portugal (Madeira), and in other areas of Spain as Merenzao (Galicia) or Maturana (Rioja). It is estimated that it arrived in Cangas during the 11th century, accompanying the Benedictine monks who inhabited the Monastery of Corias from its foundation. It is an early-ripening grape with sufficient tannic load and high acidity, which adapts better than any other to northern, maritime, and cool climates. In this wine, a selection of southeast-facing plots with 60-year-old bush vines and limited production is included, resulting in a truly elegant and unique wine. Escolinas Verdejo Negro is a very special wine, not only because of the scarcity of this variety, but above all for its balance between simplicity, elegance, and fragrance. It perhaps has more in common with wines made in Northern Europe than with any other Spanish region. It undergoes only 8 months of aging in stainless steel so that the wood does not disguise its varietal characteristics in the slightest. Escolinas bottles the terroir of Cangas del Narcea (Asturias, Spain) from the finest native grapes. The Escolinas estate is made up of just 0.6 hectares of micro-plots in Cangas del Narcea and other villages in the area. These small vineyards cannot be mechanized, with slopes of up to 30% and an altitude above 500 meters above sea level, making them one of the few mountain vineyards in Spain. On these steep hillsides the vines survive in slate-rich soils, a particularity of the terroir that naturally regulates the vigor of the plant and results in small productions of wines with a fine and elegant profile. The extreme climate of Cangas and its slate soils have been perfectly adapted to by varieties such as Albarín Blanco, Verdejo Negro, Albarín Negro, and Carrasquín, which together form a group of varieties that give the wines character and personality.