Suertes del Marqués 'Fortificado' NV

Leading Tenerife’s vinous renaissance for the past two decades, Suertes del Marqués is crafting some of Spain’s most exciting wines today.

Buying up vineyards and selling most of his crop to local domaines in 1986, Francisco García Lima only started producing wine commercially from 2006. As he introduced organic, low-interventionist philosophies and his son Jonatan took over the 9ha estate in 2016, Suertes del Marqués has become ground zero for a new wave of Tenerife fine wine.

Jonatan farms 9ha of indigenous old-vine varieties – some more than 200 years old – on volcanic clay and sand soils in the steep Orotova Valley, an appellation where cloud cover moderates temperatures by some 10°C compared to the rest of the island. Trained with a rare technique called cordón trenzado, the long vine canes are painstakingly tied back to their sinewy roots after pruning, then propped off the floor with poles.

Brand new for us is the super-rare ‘Fortificado’: Listán Blanco from ‘Las Suertes’ and ‘El Mocás’ fortified and aged for 62 months in Madeira barrels. Powerful and complex, it has a nutty, gentle sweetness and massive ageing capability. Just over 300 bottles were produced.