1986 was the first year that Eufrosina Pérez created wine for her label (co-founded with her husband Juan Antonio Rodríguez) in a “small hay loft inherited from my father,” she recalls. But that first wine was still far from the one that made her brand famous and turned the Albillo grape into the most sought-after of this and other islands of the archipelago.

“The first was a tea wine (‘tea’ is the inside of old Canary pines) because we had my father’s casks and we used only those. But they tasted a lot like pine,” she says. So they purchased a pair of 1000-liter stainless steel containers, which seemed big at the time, and started making white wines.
The two thousand liters soon turned into 50,000, with a vineyard surrounding the country house that offers amazing vistas of modern cultivated plants in espalier, expanding in well-organized rows. They are 1,250 meters above sea level, ensconced in a pine grove on an estate that his father had bought in a place called Briesta, where the harvested grapes had to be transported with mules to a neighbor’s press and there, once they were crushed, the must was taken in goatskins to the pine cask winery. “There was only one press in the area and you had to take turns stomping the grapes,” Eufrosina tells us.

Having only daughters (Eufrosina and Onésima) he had no choice but to allow them to start working and helping at the winery, even though among vintners there is a fairly commonly-held belief that women can “ruin the wine” if they come into the aging room while they are menstruating. A belief that all vintners today (certainly including her) agree was just an excuse “that men used it to get together by themselves and have parties without any interference from the women.” But my father always had to value my daughters,” laughs Eufrosina.

With the winery fully equipped, with the experience and learning of both spouses, some help from an oenologist, and top quality grapes, El Níspero’s big success came in the form of a white wine from Albillo grapes that was greeted within the first years of its production with consecutive awards at the regional competition of Alhóndiga (2000, 2001, and 2004), as well as national (Zarcillo de Oro 2000), and even international (Baco de Plata 2001) recognition. Since then, its range has been significantly extended, with various whites and reds and a winery that is easily accessible even without pack animals.

■ Eufrosina Pérez Rodríguez Burro Macho 3, Briesta, 38787 Garafía (La Palma), Islas Canarias (España) Cell phone: (34) 639 080 712 ● Capacity: 50,000 liters. ● Average production: 35,000 bottles/year. ♠ Visits by appointment. ♣ There is a shop-hall that is used for tasting and events. ♥ Activities: tasting events by appointment, tasting classes, and food and wine-matching courses.