Vinos de Alta Montaña

Dear readers,

The wines of Constancio Ballestero & Nancy Castro have just landed at our warehouse. 

These are honest mountain wines made by real farmers. 

In other words, yes to organic farming (1st grower to obtain organic certification in La Palma), no commercial yeast, no enzymes, no gum arabic, no SO2 before & during elevage (if it's not necessary), no cold stabilization, no filtration (if it's not necessary) and lastly and most importantly, no "acidification" (a rarity in the Islands). 

It seems that residing above the "clouds" has its own au naturel benefits, after all...

We'll be up-dating more info on the wines in a few days.

For now, here is a little story about Constancio & Nancy.

Constancio Ballesteros explaining the benefits of working with high elevation vineyards.

"Lest start in 1997, once married and living in a small town of La Mancha, working in a cooperative winery, one of many in that village... After a memorable Eastern holiday at La Palma Island , we clearly saw our future giving our first steps in the family's vineyards located in Tijarafe and Puntagorda, a small undeveloped property which generated few benefits... Due to the topography of the area, there were no wineries in the vicinities and the farmers made their wine in old winepresses and stored it in old barrels of tea or Virginia wood. It was the awakening of that region; a magic place like no other, with such a high diversity of microclimates and grape varieties."

"During the summer of 1997, we decided to leave everything to start a new adventure. That summer, we began the conditioning of the little bodega of the family, located in carved caves at the Bellido Mountain , where we produced wine for our own consumption. By then, the Denominación de Origen Vinos de la Palma already existed, which we subscribed that year, and we harvested our grapes in October. With few resources and a lot of courage and hope, we put our first bottles of wine in the local market..."

Constancio at his cave hand-bottling some Palomino-based bubbles.

"These were the beginnings of our company and the reborn of a wine village, which did not imagine that one day it would become an important reference center for wine production in La Palma Island and the whole Canarian Archipelago, where the vineyards have recovered and expanded in less than ten years."

2012 Tendal Blanco tradición

"At present, we can affirm that we were not wrong when we decided to start this life project. We continue happily together, doing what we enjoy to do, being lucky to enjoy and live with our family in a paradise like no other on Earth, proud to help maintain a natural landscape and a very pleasant life style..."  - Vinos Tendal

*Coming soon to our shores: Real Vino de Tea!