Spain | Canary Island | Suertes del Marques
Suertes del Marques
Wines
Summary
Suertes del Marqués is a family winery that has been growing grapes in the Canary Islands for many years. Initially the family sold their grapes to other producers, but in 2006 under the direction of Jonatan García Lima, they started bottling their own wines.
The estate and vineyards are located in the northern Tenerife region, in Valle de La Orotava. Here vines are planted to very steep hillsides rising up 400 and 700 meters above the sea. The Valle de La Orotava is typically 15-20 degrees cooler than the much hotter and sunnier south side of the island, and the area is often under cloud cover which protect the grapes from the powerful sun rays.
The area’s volcanic soils are Phylloxera free and the vines are pie franco (own rooted) and extremely old- some potentially over 200 years. Many of the vines are trained using a unique method to this area called Cordon Trenzado where the vines spread out in long braids of wood, some up to 15-20 feet from the mother trunk. The indigenous grape varieties there include Listan Negro and Blanco, Malvasia Rosado, Vijariego, Baboso Negro and more. Typical production is 80% red wine and 20% white wine.
All work in the cellar at Suertes del Marqués is minimal- all indigenous yeast fermentations, use of neutral large oak barrels with minimal racking and added sulphur during the élévage, with a decent percentage of whole clusters in fermentation, as well as minimal filtration with the wines just passing through a large screen to remove any unwanted remnants, stems, grape skins, etc.
