Ariana pays tribute to women, fundamental pillars in the 245-year history of the winery.
Experimenting and opening new paths are part of the philosophy of the oldest winery in the Canary Islands, El Grifo, which has strived to extract the essence of its entrails from the volcano. That is why 14 years ago the winery began a project in which they decided to play with one of the native grape varieties of the Canary Islands: Listán Negro. As a result of all that effort, Tinto Ariana was born; whose name is a tribute to the daughter of one of the two owners, who was born the same year that this wine began its journey in the market.
In the last decades of the last century, the Spanish red wines most demanded by the market were alcoholic, with a lot of color and a great presence of wood. However, Listán Negro had little structure, little color and low alcohol content. That is why Bodegas El Grifo thought of reinforcing Listán Negro with some foreign variety, the most suitable for the volcanic terrain of Lanzarote being Syrah, which they brought from the prestigious Abadía Retuerta winery. In this way, the winery embarked on a groundbreaking project and a real challenge.
And as a result, Tinto Ariana de El Grifo was born, a coupage of Listán Negro with Syrah. However, it was intended that this second grape variety should not be dominant, so that the characteristics and qualities of the native variety would not be covered. The assembly between both varieties did not seem easy, but fortunately it turned out perfect, generating an extraordinary symbiosis. El Grifo's Tinto Ariana matures in 500-liter French oak barrels, with a Listán Negro (60-70%) that provides the Atlantic, fresh, lively and original character; while the Syrah (30-40%) provides the necessary structure for its maturation in barrels.
It should be noted that this wine is the exception, since the remaining references of El Grifo are all monovarietal. However, it was very well received from the beginning, achieving recognitions such as the Gran Oro obtained in the IberWine of Madrid in 2012, up to the golds of 2012, 2015 and 2016 of the German competition Berliner Wein Trophy.
Women, the key to El Grifo
In a matriarchal society like the Canarian one, women have also played a key role in Bodegas El Grifo. In the 245 years of operation, the winery has been mostly owned by women, who also exercised the direction without tutelage. This is the case of the sisters Antonia and Rosalía de Castro, both owners of El Grifo for 50 years in the 19th century.
For almost a hundred years, since 1880, two women from the current family directed El Grifo: the mother of the current owners (the brothers Juan José and Fermín Otamendi), Antonia Rodríguez Bethencourt, and before, her mother, Manuela García Parrilla. Therefore, the birth of Ariana and the choice of her name for this new wine turned out to be a tribute to everything that women have represented in the history of El Grifo.
From El Grifo they encourage everyone to discover the Tinto Ariana from the 2019 vintage, a very special product for the winery, which is already ready to delight lovers of risky and certainly fun wines.
