In La Guancha’s historic center, one of the old mansions close to the church is almost as old as the church itself. The architecture is colonial Canary Island style, the rooms on the second story face onto a lovely central patio surrounded by wooden corridors. Its owner, a priest, who had it built for himself, died, and his niece, who had married a sea captain from Pérez de Gáldar (Gran Canaria), inherited the house.

Since then, it has remained in family of her descendants through several generations, and its current inhabitants still recall, and invoke, the names by which the various rooms had been called in the time of the priest, for example, the “room of the black person” (where the priest’s servant lived), and the “room of the flour” (where the grain was stored).

In 1890, Pedro Pérez, who had emigrated to Cuba, returned, planted vines, and, in 1893, started to “enclose wine,” as the islanders say, meaning to make wine

The house also has a long history of viniculture. In 1890, Pedro Pérez, who had emigrated to Cuba, returned, planted vines, and, in 1893, started to “enclose wine,” as the islanders say, meaning to make wine. “He also bought must in La Florida and Llanito Perera, traveling with mules across the mountain and bringing it back in barrels,” relates his grandson Carlos, the current vintner. In those days the wine was sold at the winery directly from the cask to locals who would gather there, drink, and hold social events on its two patios.

“When I first started making a very fruity wine, which I originally sold in bulk, people claimed that I was adding peach skins to it,” he laughs

Carlos’s father, Aquilino Pérez, also emigrated to Cuba, and when he returned, he too started to cultivate the land and produce wine. But when Carlos took over in the early 1980s, he established new criteria for production, adopting modern oenological methods in order to manufacture and bottle quality wines: “When I first started making a very fruity wine, which I originally sold in bulk, people claimed that I was adding peach skins to it,” he laughs. The older people even told him that bottling the wine would destroy it. Far from it: his wines have become a point of reference on this island and established a path that many other wineries followed. Today, his wines are even exported to Europe, America, and Asia.

■ Viña La Guancha SL Calle El Sol 3, 38440 La Guancha (Tenerife), Islas Canarias (España) Phone number: (34) 922 828 166 Email: zanata@zanata.net Home page: www.zanata.net ● Capacity: 200,000 liters. ● Average production: 150,000 bottles/year. ● Exportation: Germany, United States, Japan. ♠ Visits by appointment (include wine tasting and tapas, minimum 10 Euros). ♣ There is a shop.