Spain · Canary Islands

Suertes del Marqués

Family-grown Tenerife wines from old volcanic vineyards, led by Listán Negro reds and textured Listán Blanco whites.

The producer

Suertes del Marqués began bottling wine in 2006 after the García family had spent about twenty years growing grapes for local wineries in northern Tenerife’s Valle de la Orotava. Its red and white wines draw on indigenous grapes including Listán Negro, Listán Blanco, Tintilla and Malvasía, putting vineyard fruit into named bottles rather than selling it on.

Vineyards rise from 300 to 750 metres over volcanic ground with sand and clay at the surface. Old ungrafted vines and cordón trenzado—the island’s long, braided vine training—supply fruit for dry wines shaped in concrete, large vessels and 500-litre French oak foudres. Expect red fruit, savoury earth, acidity and tannin in the reds; citrus, floral notes, mineral character and broader lees-influenced texture in the whites.

Known for

Indigenous Tenerife grapes from high, volcanic vineyards, including old ungrafted vines trained in cordón trenzado.

Notable facts

The story

Two Barrels of Vidonia V.P.

Suertes del Marqués began Vidonia V.P. in 2020 as a small estate-vineyard offshoot of Vidonia, inspired by barrel-fermented white Burgundy. The project remained separate from the wider white-wine line, using Orotava Valley fruit and its own barrel-and-lees ageing. For the 2021 release, the winery made only two barrels. They were filled in September 2022 and yielded 2,660 bottles. Vidonia V.P. therefore entered the range as a narrowly defined estate-vineyard wine, alongside Vidonia rather than in place of it.

From the atlas

Suertes del Marqués

At A Glance

Suertes del Marqués is a family winery in the Valle de la Orotava DO on northern Tenerife. Since 2006, the García family has made still red and white wines from indigenous grapes including Listán Negro, Listán Blanco, Tintilla and Malvasía. The bottles begin in volcanic vineyards between 300 and 750 metres, so altitude, old vines and vessel choice all sit close to the flavour of the wine.

The range moves from red blends such as 7 Fuentes and Vidueño to whites including Trenzado, Vidonia and the small-production Vidonia V.P. Expect dry wines with fresh acidity, savoury mineral notes and structure shaped by grape, site and ageing rather than overt sweetness or heavy new oak.

The Producer

The García family spent about twenty years growing grapes for local wineries before beginning to bottle wine under the Suertes del Marqués name in 2006. That change put their own Listán Negro and Listán Blanco vineyards into the bottle, allowing the family to separate red and white wines by grape, parcel and cellar vessel instead of selling the crop as fruit alone.

The winery farms vineyards in the Orotava Valley and also controls 17 hectares belonging to local growers. Its own and rented holdings are reported at around 11 hectares, though one account divides that figure into nine owned hectares and two rented. This mix gives the range access to both estate fruit and long-standing local vineyard material without treating those sources as the same thing.

Place

The Valle de la Orotava lies on northern Tenerife, within the Canary Islands. Suertes del Marqués works within the Valle de la Orotava DO, where a label can carry a place more specific than Tenerife while still speaking through local grape varieties. Listán Negro supplies the central red-wine thread; Listán Blanco, Tintilla and Malvasía widen the estate’s red and white palette.

Vineyards run from 300 to 750 metres above sea level. That vertical spread means fruit for different wines does not ripen in one uniform setting, and the estate can build range differences around site and harvest conditions. In the glass, the intended result is dry wine with fresh acidity and weight rather than a single broad “island” style.

Soil And Site

The ground is volcanic, with surface layers that vary between sand and clay. Those physical differences matter because roots, water movement and vine vigour do not behave alike in every parcel; Suertes del Marqués keeps vineyard distinctions visible through separate wines and small selections rather than blending every site into one bottling.

Some plots contain vines around a century old, and the estate works ungrafted material. Traditional cordón trenzado training braids shoots into long, low canopies, making the vineyard itself part of the work behind wines such as Trenzado. The old plants and braided training are not decorative details: they govern how the vine carries its fruit and therefore the texture and savoury mineral character sought in the finished wines.

Story

The estate began with a family already rooted in the valley’s grape trade. Jonatan García Lima’s father started buying vineyard parcels in 1986, while the family continued selling grapes to local wineries. When Suertes del Marqués began making wine in 2006, those parcels became the basis for named bottlings, with Listán Negro red wines and dry whites able to show vineyard material through the family’s own cellar decisions.

Acquiring and working traditional vineyards also became part of keeping older local plantings in cultivation when redevelopment and modern replanting put them at risk. The consequence is practical: old, ungrafted vines and cordón trenzado remain active sources of fruit for a contemporary range, rather than surviving only as a historic landscape.

Vineyards And Cellar

The cellar uses native yeasts, concrete vats, 500-litre French oak foudres and larger vessels from 2,000 to 4,500 litres. Fining and filtration are rare. These choices give the winemaking room to handle red-fruit tannin in Listán Negro and the dry, mineral shape of the whites without making every bottle taste of the same oak treatment.

Concrete and large vessels support a different balance from small new barrels: fruit, acidity and texture can remain at the centre. The 500-litre foudres bring oak into the process on a broader scale, while the estate’s vineyard selections keep grape and site distinctions active. The result is a range where vessel is part of wine structure, not a substitute for vineyard character.

Wines

7 Fuentes is the approachable red side of Suertes del Marqués: an indigenous-grape blend from the Valle de la Orotava, made with concrete tasting material in mind rather than an appellation name alone. Its role is to show Listán Negro-led red fruit, savoury earth and tannin in a wine with enough freshness to avoid a heavy finish.

Vidueño continues the red range with a separate estate wine, while Trenzado turns to white grapes and the braided-vine landscape that gives it its name. Vidonia is the white-wine line for Valle de la Orotava fruit. Vidonia V.P., begun in 2020, narrows that focus into a tiny estate-vineyard offshoot, aged with barrel and lees context rather than presented as a general description of all Vidonia.

In The Glass

Across the reds, look for cherry fruit, savoury earth, acidity and tannin rather than dense sweetness. Listán Negro is central to that shape: the grape anchors the red range, while volcanic sites and a cellar that uses concrete and large vessels support a dry palate with grip and a fresh finish.

The whites move toward citrus, mineral and floral notes, with dry texture rather than soft residual sugar. Vidonia and Vidonia V.P. add lees and oak to that framework, bringing more mid-palate weight without losing acidity. The useful contrast is not red against white alone, but fruit and tannin in 7 Fuentes or Vidueño against citrus, savoury mineral and broader texture in the Vidonia wines.

A Bottle To Understand It

Vidonia V.P. 2021 is the first bottle to seek out when available. It is a small estate-vineyard white from the Vidonia project, made in only two barrels and yielding 2,660 bottles filled in September 2022. Its barrel-fermented white-Burgundy inspiration places lees, oak and texture beside Tenerife fruit, so the wine can show dry citrus, mineral savour and a broader palate while acidity carries the finish.

Anecdote

Vidonia V.P. began in 2020 as a small, estate-vineyard offshoot of Vidonia. The project took inspiration from barrel-fermented white Burgundy, but its material came from the Orotava Valley’s Listán Blanco vineyards and the winery’s own cellar. For the 2021 release, Suertes del Marqués made only two barrels. The wine was filled in September 2022, and those two barrels produced 2,660 bottles. The result was not a new name applied to the whole white range: Vidonia V.P. remained a defined, tiny production beside Vidonia, attached to one estate-vineyard project and that two-barrel 2021 lot.

Final Word

Suertes del Marqués makes Tenerife legible through bottles rather than broad regional shorthand: Listán Negro for dry red fruit and tannin, Listán Blanco for citrus and mineral texture, and old volcanic vineyards carried through concrete, foudre and large-vessel ageing.

Sources

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