Set between the Atlantic Ocean and Mount Teide—the highest peak in Spain—the vineyards of Suertes del Marqués occupy one of the most extraordinary landscapes in the wine world. The vines climb the volcanic slopes of Tenerife’s northern Valle de la Orotava, where ancient indigenous varieties grow in dark volcanic soils and are trained using the island’s remarkable cordón trenzado system. Here, long canes are braided together by hand, creating twisting, serpentine vines that can stretch more than ten metres from a single trunk. It is a surreal sight, and an immediate reminder that this is a place unlike anywhere else.
At the centre of it all is Jonatan García, a grower Jane Anson once described as “a man who has made the wines of Tenerife part of the late-night conversation of sommeliers worldwide.” His work has done much to reintroduce the Canary Islands to the world of fine wine, demonstrating just how extraordinary these vineyards can be.
García comes from a family of winegrowers, but in 2006 he took the decisive step of growing, bottling and selling the family’s wines under their own name. Today, Suertes del Marqués farms around 11 hectares, divided across more than 20 individual parcels between 350 and 700 metres above sea level. His approach is deeply rooted in the vineyard: organic, low-input farming, no herbicides or systemic treatments, hand cultivation, native yeasts and little intervention in the cellar.
There is also a distinctly Burgundian philosophy at work. Inspired by the great wines of Northern Europe, García has developed a hierarchy of wines that moves from village-level blends through to individual vino de parcela bottlings, allowing the character of each site to speak for itself. The new winery, capable of handling up to 50 individual ferments, has given the team even greater precision, while a move towards gentler extraction and larger-format oak has brought an increasing sense of purity to the wines.
“a man who has made the wines of Tenerife part of the late-night conversation of sommeliers worldwide.”
Perhaps the greatest advantage of these vineyards is their history. Every Suertes vine is ungrafted—pie franco—and many are more than a century old.
Phylloxera never reached the Canary Islands, leaving these ancient vines growing on their original rootstock. Combined with naturally low yields, the result is wines of remarkable concentration without heaviness, carrying a profound sense of place.
The north of Tenerife is a world away from the island’s dry, sun-baked south. It is green, cool and heavily influenced by the Atlantic and the northern Alisio trade winds. That climate brings a natural freshness to the wines, while the volcanic soils lend an unmistakable savoury, mineral character.
The whites are textural and generous, packed with tangy fruit, saline freshness, smoke and stone. The reds are lighter on their feet—lithe, fragrant and lucid—with wildflowers, spicy red fruit, garrigue and that distinctive peppery, volcanic edge.
Little-known indigenous varieties, ancient ungrafted vines, Atlantic freshness and extraordinary volcanic soils make Suertes del Marqués some of the most distinctive wines we ship. These are wines that feel unmistakably of Tenerife: wild, precise, energetic and deeply connected to their place.
