Envínate Returns to the Fold

After a seven-year hiatus, Envínate is once more making wines with the D.O. Ribeira Sacra back label.

On June 18, Ribeira Sacra’s Regulatory Council announced that the winery is rejoining the DO, describing the project as an “international benchmark for wines from the region.” According to their statement to La Voz de Galicia, the prodigal winery’s return fulfills “one of the strategic objectives of the current management team”: integrating “highly respected wineries that operate within the denomination’s territory but had remained outside it.”

Envínate is a consistent critical darling and probably one of the most emblematic wineries in Ribeira Sacra, but decided to leave the DO in 2019, citing “various disagreements regarding how it operates” as well as the criteria maintained by the tasting panel. At the time, Alfonso Torrente, the Galician of the group, told La Voz that he “thought some things could be changed from within, but this reached a point that no longer seems sustainable for us."

In 2023, Antonio Lombardía was elected president of the Ribeira Sacra regulatory council, putting an end to the three-decade presidency of José Manuel Rodríguez, the longest term of any Regulatory Council president in Spanish history.

A few months after his election, Lombardía announced his intention to meet with producers who, despite making wine within the geographic Ribeira Sacra, marketed their wines outside the DO. La Voz reports that Ribeira Sacra is also in discussions with the Fredi Torres project Sílice, which still makes wine outside of the DO.

In their statement to La Voz, Envínate say they now believe that “the conditions are being created within the Regulatory Council for our commitment to Ribeira Sacra wines to once again participate fully in the designation of origin.” They added that “the time has come for all of us to work together and continue telling the world about the greatness of Ribeira Sacra, contributing our experience in different international markets.”