The Agaete valley is one of the most beautiful and unique of Gran Canaria’s enclaves, with a subtropical microclimate in which local agriculture offers the best products from carefully maintained fruit farms (mangos, papayas, avocados). One of them is the country house, La Laja, which is also dedicated to orange and mandarin production on its 12 hectares, famous all over the island for their sweetness and flavor, as well as one extraordinary feature: the Agaete coffee, the only coffee that is cultivated in a European country. Amid its luxurious abundance of vegetation lies the winery. Inocencio Lugo (the country house’s owner) and his son Víctor (the vintner) started planting grapevines in order to shade the paths between their many different plots of farmland.

In the beginning they would take the grapes to a winery on the Southern part of the island, where the wine would be produced, but eventually they decided to start their own winery. They built it in a huge well on one hillside of the estate, next to the great flagstone that gives the winery its name – and it is right here that the wines are aged in their barrels. The first harvest took place in 2004, when the winery was not yet fully equipped, using borrowed machinery and great force of will, with a little oenological guidance from an expert.

Víctor Lugo, vintner:
“The grapes are partially harvested at night because the grape oxidizes far less and offers wines with a more powerful aroma”

Since then, they have strengthened the project and its brand, obtaining important awards in competition, both on the island and at a regional level as well, and they keep diversifying the range of their production, especially among white wines (it’s their major production, and the semi-dry and sweet are outstanding), though they also produce interesting reds and a tasty, fresh rosé. The grapes are partially harvested at night – a family tradition – because “the grape oxidizes far less and offers wines with a more powerful aroma,” explains vintner Víctor Lugo. The night harvests are exclusively for white grapes, and they start at around midnight and go on until after six in the morning.

But Los Berrazales winery does not only make wine, it also knows how to commercialize it and to pass along the enthusiasm that informs its work: they specialize in tourism for wine lovers.

They sell 80% of their wine directly to the dozens of visitors that arrive every week at their gates, who receive guided tours that are as appealing as the landscape that surrounds them

As a matter of fact, they sell 80% of their wine directly to the dozens of visitors that arrive every week at their gates, who receive guided tours that are as appealing as the landscape that surrounds them, with the extra bonus of sampling not only their wines, but also the fruits they produce, and even a cup of their unique coffee.

■ Bodegas Los Berrazales Finca La Laja (San Pedro), 35489 Agaete (Gran Canaria), Islas Canarias (España) Phone number: (34) 928 898 154 Cell phone: (34) 628 922 588 Email: info@bodegalosberrazales.com Homepage: www.bodegalosberrazales.com ● Capacity: 40,000 liters. ● Average production: 25,000 bottles/year. ♠ Guided tours with wine tasting, as well as other products from the estate (Agaete café, fruit), and cheese from the island. Fee per person: 6€. ♣ There is a shop and a patio for tasting.