17/05/2026
A couple of standout wines added by the glass today.
Envinate Doad Lousas Mencia 2023
Lousas is the name Envintate has given to their wines from Ribeira Sacra, translating to slate and a nod to the rock that marks these wines. Each of their Lousas releases are predominately Mencia, along with a smaller component of various indigenous varieties such as Merenzao, Caino, Garnacha Tintorerra, and Palomino among many others. Doad hails from different terroirs throughout the Galician town of Doade, is Mencia dominant with the remaining 15% a field blend of these various varieties.
“The 2023 Doad Lousas comes from a mixture of terroirs, all in mostly 228-liter barrels but some larger ones too. 2023 seems like a superb vintage for the wines from Envínate in Ribeira Sacra, wines with good ripeness but contained alcohol. This has a medium-bodied palate with very fine, chalky tannins, mostly from gneiss and schist soils.” - 93-96 points - Luis Gutierrez for The Wine Advocate
Maxime Graillot Crozes Hermitage Equinoxe 2024
Maxime Graillot and Thomas Schmittel’s youthful, early-drinking Crozes-Hermitage is sourced primarily from a mature, gravelly, organically farmed site in Pont-de-l’Isère. This site is owned and managed by a good friend and neighbour of the Graillot clan, and the vigneron and producer work closely together. This collaboration has seen the Equinoxe cuvée reach ever-greater heights. The fully destemmed grapes fermented in concrete tanks and large wooden tronconique vats (with a degree of carbonic maceration) and matured for nine months in the same vessel.
This is gorgeously fleshy, fruit-forward kind of Northern Rhone Syrah. A short, nine-day maceration has brought brightly flowing flavours of hedgerow fruits and red-cherry tang matched by nuances of wispy smoke and a snappy, refreshing structure.
It’s a beautiful autumn day and two perfectly suited wines are here locked and loaded.
