New from Gran Canaria:
Volcanic, ethereal, fantastic and just arrived
Well, even after 30 years, the quality of certain wines can still leave you speechless…
And that is exactly what happened here.
When you taste these wines and read their story, you know: Spain is only just getting started.
“It’s all beginning to happen!”
The first sip of
Ikewen was a true revelation.
WOW! What a wine. It is reminiscent of
the greatest Barolos: fine, elegant and ethereal.
But above all: volcanic!
After all, this wine comes from Gran Canaria.
You may only know the island for its large holiday resorts, but it is first and foremost a volcanic island, with plenty of mountains, slopes and rocks.
We already knew Carmelo Peña from his time on Lanzarote. He produced the first vintages of
Puro Rofe. But Gran Canaria is where his own project belongs. It is his native island, where he still lives with his family.
In 2017, he started his own project. First generation, built from scratch. Together with his family.
A tiny estate, with very limited yields and a process of learning by doing. Today, it is still a very small estate with a tiny production, but
MY GOD, what wines!
If you are a fan of powerful Ribera wines, these may not be for you. But if you love finesse, elegance and minerality, you will find these wines absolutely irresistible.
They certainly blew me away. What an experience!
How wonderful that, even after 30 years in the business, a project, a wine and a winemaker can still inspire us so deeply!
Carmelo produces three wines:
Ikewen,
Tidao and
Sansofi. Total production in 2024: 9,000 bottles.
Absolutely tiny…
He makes his wines in San Mateo, which is not the island’s most typical winegrowing area. Historically, viticulture has mainly been located farther south and in the Bandama region, at lower altitudes. Carmelo, however, deliberately chose to work with high-altitude vineyards. And altitude here really means altitude… between 1,100 and 1,460 metres.
Among the highest vineyards in Spain! The name of his estate, “Bien de Altura”, is a play on “mal de altura”, the Spanish term for altitude sickness.
Carmelo has the opposite problem: he loves altitude!
Besides the volcanic terroir, another important factor for him was that the vineyards are located above the clouds. These clouds bring humidity and can encourage fungal diseases.
At the altitudes where he works, however, this is not an issue. Fresh winds also provide constant air circulation. Ideal conditions for growing top-quality grapes with perfect ripeness.
And now his three wines have arrived with us: just one small pallet containing all three wines. Quantities are therefore extremely limited, and the wines have already achieved cult status!
Here is what R. Parker has to say:
“The project from Carmelo Peña in Gran Canaria is getting consolidated. The 2024s were all fermented with full clusters and were in tank waiting to be bottled in a couple of months. It was a year of thick skins and small grapes in loose bunches; he adjusted the maceration, and even so the wines have a deeper color. A heat wave accelerated the harvest, which started at the end of August. It was a year of lower yields and no more than 9,000 bottles produced in 2024. But it will hopefully grow to 15,000 bottles in 2025, but the harvest was ongoing at the time of writing this.
Gran Canaria produced no more than 189,000 kilograms of grapes in 2024, and the zone of San Mateo, where he is, is now highly sought after, with other projects now sourcing grapes from there. The vines are at 1,100 to 1,460 meters in altitude, the highest—and coolest—on the island. He wants to plant some white grapes, and in 2025, he has a barrel that he wants to age under a veil of flor yeasts.”