Dolores Cabrera Fernandez - La Araucaria Blanco 2022
IN STOCK
$30.00
Dolores studied viticulture at the Escuela Capacitación Agraria in Tacoronte (East of La Orotava) and worked at Bodegas Monje as the head viticulturist for 10 years. In 2014 she decided to make her own wines, naming her project “La Araucaria” for a type of evergreen tree found in the Canary Islands, and specifically for the very large tree just outside her cellar that is depicted on her labels. Her husband Pedro helps out in the cellar, and a team of women (she believes women are more deft at picking grapes) help her with the harvest.
The stately old vines she works with are the great loves of her life, and you can see the delight on her face when she steps out among them. Her cellar, which was the first to ever be built in what is now the DO Valle de La Orotava, looks out over the Atlantic Ocean and her extraordinary vineyards. Most vines are trained in the cordón trenzado (braided cord) method, where vines snake out of the ground and the canes are braided together and supported by posts to facilitate better airflow (mildew is an issue due to the humidity); the braids of the oldest vines can reach between 14 to 22 meters in length. This unusual style is only found here in La Orotava on the northern slopes of Tenerife - the largest of the seven Canary Islands.
Dolores Cabrera is a passionate farmer. She is actively trying to get all other farmers in La Orotava to convert to organic farming and is evangelical in her crusade.
La Araucaria Blanco is made from a single plot of Listan Blanco vineyards named “Hacienda Perdida” planted on Mount Teide’s northern slopes in the unique cordón trenzado (“braided cord”) method. The grapes were hand-harvested on the 9th of September, destemmed and skin-macerated for 20 days. The wine is then fermented in steel vat and rested on fine lees for 7 months, with bottling in the spring without fining or filtering, and with no added sulfur.
Producer: Dolores Cabrera Fernandez
Country: Spain
Region: Canary Islands
Varietal: Listan Blanco
Appellation: Valle de la Orotava
Vintage: 2022
Size: 750ml