Visiting the premises of this winery is perhaps even more unforgettable than the originality of their wines. Victoria Torres Pecis took over the company from her father, even though its management had been a male occupation for the last five generations. Her grandfather, José, her great-grandfather Juan (he was in charge in spite of the fact that his sister was the actual heir), and his great-great-grandfather Luciano had already produced wine.

Even though she hadn’t planned becoming a vintner, she found herself becoming “hooked” while working with her parents, to the point that, “about four years ago I told my father: ‘let’s make wine’ and that was it.” The difference is that her father and grandfather always combined winemaking it with broader agricultural activities (bananas and cochineals), whereas she decided to make it her exclusive focus.

Among the curiosities and charms of the winery are the two pine-wood presses, authentic ethnographic jewels, one of which has been in constant use since the late 19th century

Among the curiosities and charms of the winery are the two pine-wood presses, authentic ethnographic jewels, one of which has been in constant use since the late 19th century. “It has been used every year since it was acquired, which is, of course, the proper method of conserving it.” Even though they now have a pneumatic press, in the last two years they also returned more broadly to the traditional means of pressing “in order to safeguard the knowledge” of that work, because in recent times the wooden presses had been used only to macerate the Negramoll grapes for the red and the Malvasia for the naturally sweet wine. The other press, similar to the first, is also made of pine wood and was purchased by her grandfather in the mid 20th century in Breña Baja, when he expanded the winery after having acquired more wine-growing land and needed “another machine to process all the grapes.” This press is supposedly “the biggest one on the island.”

For Victoria, producing wine (and she has a relatively varied range) is not so much about planning as about the desire to experiment in a never-ending learning process

For Victoria, producing wine (and she has a relatively varied range) is not so much about planning as about the desire to experiment in a never-ending learning process: “you’d be surprised to know how little I plan. In 2013, I started to produce the white Diego because a 70-year-old grower and another much younger one who had just started to work at viticulture – it’s rare for someone to come to it so late in life — asked whether I was interested in that variety. After taking a look at their plot, I bought the grapes from them.” The same thing happened with the dry Malvasia (“I was interested in the results because it is a grape of such great potential”) or the traditional red (“I was searching for a traditional method: after stomping the grapes in the press, which led to a very oxidative maceration, I set about looking for formulas without specifically knowing what I wanted to create, for example, making the wines separately according to the areas from which the Negramoll and the Listán Negro grapes come, and deciding afterwards exactly what to do”).

Her wines are not only personal within the bottle, but also on the outside, as she decorates, and herself even draws, some of their labels and embroiders the paper on which they are printed.

■ Victoria E. Torres Pecis Calle Ciudad Real s/n, Los Canarios, 38740 Fuencaliente (La Palma), Islas Canarias (España) Cell phone: (34) 617 967 499 Email: bodega@matiasitorres.com Home page: www.matiasitorres.com ● Capacity: 34,000 liters. ● Average production: 12,000 bottles/year. ♠ Visits by appointment.