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The wines of Vidonia, as this area was once known, were celebrated across 17th-century Europe. ‘Canary’ was so popular as to make a cameo in Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, where the bard penned: “Farewell, my hearts: I will to my honest knight Falstaff, and drink canary with him.” In recent times, Suertes’ old vine, Listán Blanco cuvées, have become some of Spain’s most distinctive white wines.
This is drawn from three basalt-rich vineyards on the high slopes of the Pico del Teide in the Valle de La Orotava of northern Tenerife. The first plot, El Barranco, was planted to Listán Blanco over a century ago (no one knows the exact age of the vines). To this day, it is trained according to Tenerife’s traditional trenzado (plaited) system. The second and third sites are the nearby La Solana and El Ciruelo vineyards, small plots with ungrafted vines. All the vines for this cuvée are 100-plus years old and are grown on volcanic and basaltic soils. The winemaking is minimalist as always: whole bunch pressing and natural fermentation in foudre followed by 11-months aging and no filtration.
Vidonia seduces with a complex register of aromas and flavours. Perfumed and textured, there’s ripe pear, tangy grapefruit, gilled nuts, smoky minerals, and juicy, piquant freshness. Texturally, it’s a Canary-Islands-does-Meursault kind of wine, but that’s really a cop-out—this is unique.