The Cráter winery emerged at a time when Tenerife was trying to rejuvenate its winegrowing culture and tradition, slowly moving toward the production of quality bottled wines by first improving the bulk wines that remained in production. A group of friends decided to give winemaking a go, and that is how the first DO of the Canary Islands was born: Tacoronte-Acentejo (1992), whose first president, Lourdes Fernández López, was one of Cráter’s founders.

“The wine improved until it was not up to chance anymore, but oenological criteria were taken into account,” Lourdes Fernández likes to say. They started the winery in 1998, with a very small harvest, due to that year’s drought, but with high quality grapes, which created a perfect situation for beginners.

With this first-class raw material and the goal of producing wine that would captivate wine connoisseurs and could even be exported – at a time when nobody was thinking that was possible –, they presented their first three thousand bottles of red, now a classic. They produced the Listán Negro and the Negramoll separately and, after passing through French oak barrels and undertaking various tests, they decided what were the correct proportions for their Cráter. “For a really exquisite wine, we found a harmony at 30 to 35 percent of Negramoll and the rest Listán,” she explains.

With this first-class raw material and the goal of producing wine that would captivate wine connoisseurs and could even be exported, they presented their first bottles of red, now a classic

Their success with Crater encouraged them to take a next important step with a great vintage of the DO Tacoronte-Acentejo, 2003, to create a second wine: Magma de Cráter. Produced in a limited edition, it traces the line of subtle and elegant wines, but in this case a bit more powerful, with a different coupage in which Negramoll prevails, reinforced by the faint presence of a foreign grape, Syrah. “I particularly love Negramoll; but by itself it is too light, too subtle. It has an extraordinary elegance, but you need to add something more full-bodied. A little bit of Syrah rounds this wine up and complements it.”

■ Buten SL Calle San Nicolás 122, 38360 El Sauzal (Tenerife), Islas Canarias (España) Phone: (34) 922 573 272 Email: crater@craterbodegas.com Homepage: www.craterbodegas.com ● Capacity: 15,000 liters. ● Average production: 12,000 bottles/year. ● Exportation: Spanish Peninsula, United States and various European countries (Germany, Switzerland). ♠ Visits by appointment in the morning. ♣ There is a shop and a tasting lounge.