New Arrivals from La Palma: 2018s from Victoria Torres Pecis
10/24/20 -
La Palma is the northwesternmost island in the Canary Island chain, and among the youngest of the volcanic isles. An enormous caldera dominates the island, and the most recent major eruption was less than 50 years ago.Characterized by intense altitude variations (the highest peak rises nearly 2,500 meters above the sea) and a stark contrast between black ash soils in the south and the lush and very green north, it has a long history of viticulture, with grapes grown in the wide variety of microclimates across the island. In particular, La Palma was long known for its sweet Malvasía wines, which were treasured on both sides of the Atlantic in the 18th and 19th centuries. As the Canary Islands have managed to insulate themselves from phylloxera, these vineyards are living representatives of this history, with many vines dating back to the 19th century and beyond. All of the wines offered today come from ungrafted, own-rooted vines - and many of these vines are very old.
Victoria Torres Pecis and her family are an important part of that history. Based in Fuencaliente, on La Palma's southern tip, the Torres family have been farming the local grape varieties and making wine for five generations. Victoria Torres now works roughly seven hectares of vines spread across the island, from Fuencaliente in the south to Garafia in the north, where altitudes reach 1400 meters. The vineyards are planted with the indigenous varieties of the Canary Islands: Malvasía, Negramoll, Lístan Negro, Lístan Prieto, Albillo, and Forastera. Working organically and by hand, restoring old vineyards, Victoria produces wines of impressive purity and intensity. Her approach in the cellar is tradition and low-intervention. She ferments the grapes with indigenous yeasts in very old pine lagars or in stainless steel tanks, and she uses sulfur sparingly. Production is very limited, and we look forward to the arrival of our allocation of these wines every year.
We're also excited to highlight another producer from La Palma: Patricia Perdomo. Based in the province of Garafia in the town of Las Tricias, in the northern portion of the island, she is making a single wine from a single high-altitude, terraced, un-grafted vineyard planted to Lístan Negro, Lístan Prieto, Negramoll and other varieties. At 1200 meters above the sea and surrounded by Canarian pine trees, the vineyard is insulated from the influence of the Atlantic. This is another expression of La Palma's viticulture, very different from Victoria Torres' wines but also very compelling.
-Ben Fletcher
