Alberto González from La Gomera, owner and oenologist of Bodegas Timanfaya, explains how the experience of launching "the first red wine from Lanzarote" in 1999 was and shares which wines he is currently marketing during an interview with the radio program Más de Uno Gourmet from Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero.
- How did you arrive in Lanzarote?
I arrived in Lanzarote in the 80s as a technical drawing teacher and while here, I passed the mathematics exams and dedicated myself to teaching classes.
- And to the world of wine?
As my first degree was in Agricultural Technical Engineering, in 1989 I was proposed to direct the intermediate-level cycle of wine and other beverage production in Lanzarote.
In addition, I had always been a winegrower and winemaker at home, in La Gomera, and when I arrived in Lanzarote, the first thing I did was find a farm in La Geria and start making wine in the traditional way.
- How did the idea of creating Bodegas Timanfaya come about?
Once I was involved in the cycle I mentioned, I had to do a master's degree and in 1999 I had already created Bodegas Timanfaya, which then became the seventh winery on the island of Lanzarote.
My only objective was to produce a red wine from Lanzarote, which did not exist at that time. Furthermore, they said it couldn't be done, that the conditions on the island did not exist to make a red wine.
- What grape did you use?
Here I came across a grape that they called the common red and that I baptized as tinta conejera (Lanzarote red).
With it, I launched the first red wine from Lanzarote that was positioned among the best red wines in Spain at that time.
- What name did you give the wine?
We called it 'Cenizas del Timanfaya' (Ashes of Timanfaya) because the tinta conejera has a marked character not only volcanic, but also of ash, smoke, and tobacco.
- What courage when most of the island's hospitality industry tends to denigrate Lanzarote's red wine...
I am a person of challenges. I always say no to things, but if someone tells me no, then I say yes.
At that time it was said that Lanzarote could not make red wine. Now I have a project in Fuerteventura, where it was directly said that wine could not be made.
- As an oenologist, why was it so difficult to make red wine in Lanzarote at that time?
At that time there was a confrontation with the hospitality industry, even with the political class. If an event was held in Lanzarote, it was more important to have a wine from outside than one from here.
It wasn't until 2000 and something that, suddenly, a union between the hospitality industry and the primary sector occurred and Saborea Lanzarote began, which began to value the island's product more. Thus, the wineries began to improve their image and quality.
- What plans do you have for Bodegas Timanfaya now that you have resumed activity?
The first thing we consider is a tribute to the volcanoes and especially to Timanfaya. That is why we have created an image around the volcanoes of each of the wines. Even the labels are made with volcanic ash.
The second is to defend La Geria, but the authentic La Geria, the traditional one. I want the vines of Bodegas Timanfaya to be old and not irrigated, some have survived 300 years. Our objective is to make wine only with century-old grapes from La Geria and in the traditional way.
- What are the wines in your current catalog?
We have produced a Malvasia white wine without any intervention, without sulfites, without filtering and without clarifying.
Then we have returned to make a red wine, as similar as possible to Cenizas de Timanfaya, I say as similar as possible because there is not as much tinta conejera in La Geria as in Tinajo. We have also made a sparkling wine that reflects the explosion of the volcano.
From sweet wines, we have released the 2018 sweet Malvasia that we had in barrels and we have bottled the first bottling of our 1999 Moscatel.
