£45.00
Lanzarote is the easternmost of the Canary Islands, situated just 100km from the continent of Africa. The warmest and driest part of the Canaries, it receives a scant 6 inches of rainfall in an average year. Subjected to nearly constant winds blowing off the Sahara desert, known locally as alicios, this would be a challenging place to grow vines even if they were not planted on a vast and volatile volcanic fissure. The lunar landscape of Lanzarote was largely formed by an eruption that lasted from 1730 to 1736, which covered 200 square km of the islands with up to 3 meters of ash and lapilli. Viewed from space, this island’s most notable features are a series of calderas pockmarking a black sand and ash desert that dominates the northwestern part of the island - Los Volcanes National Park.
The raw materials of Lanzarote - the stark beauty, unique viticulture, indigenous and ancient vines have been on the mind of Rayco Fernandez for many years. A wine exporter based in Gran Canaria, Rayco had waited patiently for over a decade for someone to discover the potential of Lanzarote. Puro Rofe was created from his abiding interest in Lanzarote, his impatience, and the friends he made there. While Rayco was the impetus for its creation, Puro Rofe is a collaboration among local, like-minded grape growers Rafael (Chicho) Mota, Vicente Torres, Ascension Robayna, and Pedro Umpiérrez. They tend vineyards surrounding Los Volcanes in the villages of La Geria, Tinajo, Masdache, and Testeyna, and all practice organic farming.
Puro Rofe is based in La Geria at Chicho Mota’s small, museum-like bodega, which preserves many of the traditional winemaking tools on Lanzarote - lagars, basket presses, and concrete vats which are now supplemented with clay amphorae as well. PURO ROFE Mentidero Masdache is named for a small village on the southeastern edge of La Geira in Lanzarote and is sourced from Ascensión Robayna’s vineyard, Moro la Virgen.
This site is planted with 100+-year-old Listán Blanco, Malvasía, Diego and Listán Negro. This vineyard is the source for the Masdache Blanco, and a small amount of Clarete named Mentidero. Both the red and white varieties are harvested together. Half are pressed directly into 228L French oak barrels for fermentation and aging for six months. The other half are treated like their Tinto – whole cluster fermentation in amphorae and fermentation bins before aging in tank for six months. The two parts are then blended and rest for about a month before bottling.