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Bimbache Vinícola
Canary Islands, Spain3 wines4.2 avg
21
Rayco Fernández and Pablo Matallana on El Hierro - 5 hectares of indigenous varieties on volcanic soils across the smallest Canary island, salty and savory wines from the westernmost Canaries.
El Hierro is the smallest and westernmost of the Canary Islands - 167 hectares of vines remaining on the entire island, yet the greatest genetic and clonal diversity of grapevines in all the Canaries. Bimbache was founded here in 2018, named after the island's pre-colonial inhabitants. The project belongs to Rayco Fernández and Pablo Matallana. Rayco was one of the founding members of Puro Rofe in Lanzarote before being drawn to El Hierro. Pablo is the winemaker. Esaú Suárez and Silvia Viot work the vineyards.
5 hectares of bushvines spread across micro-parcels in all three of El Hierro's municipalities: Valverde, Frontera, and El Pinar. Elevation ranges from sea level at the coastal El Pinar sites to 800 metres in the mountains of Valverde - dramatic ripening differences within a few kilometres. Basaltic volcanic soils throughout, iron-rich. All farmed organically, manual harvest.
The grape list reads like a botanical inventory: whites include Verijadiego, Listán Blanco, Forastera, Verdello, Marmajuelo, Malvasía, and Gual. Reds: Listán Negro, Verijadiego Negro, Baboso, Tintilla, and Negramoll. Many of the vines are ungrafted - phylloxera never reached the islands - and plenty remain unidentified, the kind of viticultural archaeology that makes El Hierro irreplaceable.
Winemaking is straightforward: whites pressed whole cluster, reds largely destemmed. All fermentations spontaneous, no temperature control beyond the natural ventilation of an exposed, windy winery. Aging in stainless steel and French oak, sulphur only at bottling.
Key wines: Bimbache Blanco (the field-blend white), Bimbache Tinto, Gran Cruz del Calvario (a white from the single Finca Los Valles vineyard in Valverde, barrel-fermented, nine months on lees, unfiltered - the flagship), John Stone (a 60-year-old vineyard of Vijariego Blanco and Listán Blanco in La Frontera, ferment finishing in French oak under a thin layer of flor), Chivo (Verijadiego Blanco, Bremajuelo, Gual, Malvasía and Moscatel from a 20-year-old coastal vineyard near Sabinosa, 200 metres from the sea), and Quintero. These are salty, tangy, savory wines - mountain, ocean, and volcanic all at once.
