Finca Escudero is an environment with a strong family imprint where quality wines are produced. Its promoter, Juan Escudero, was attracted to viticulture since childhood. His father cultivated vineyards in Corella, Navarra, Spain. However, his passion for wine is also influenced by the family tradition on his mother’s side, the Del Castillo family, who were pioneers in wine cultivation in the Canary Islands in the seventeenth century.
The 1,200 vineyards grown in an area of 5,000 m2 are mainly of the Tempranillo variety. The careful nurturing, the work of the enologist, the exceptional weather and the general care of the Estate result in a magnificent wine of two different vinifications, Joven (Young) and Roble (Oak). Soon white wine, of the recently planted Marmajuelo Canarian variety, will also be produced.
The grape harvest takes place at the end of September, and some years even during mid-October, collecting the grapes in 20 kilo boxes which are then taken to the winery. Once in the winery there is a second grape selection where those bunches not considered adequate for quality wine are discarded. The wine elaboration takes place by the traditional method of removing the grape from the stalk and once lightly squeezed, stored for 10 days in stainless steel vats at controlled temperatures until the grape juice has exhausted the sugars.
On the tenth day the contents of the vats go to the pressing process, bleeding the initial squeezed grape juice and carrying out a light press of the grape bunches. Subsequently, malolactic fermentation in stainless steel tanks takes place. Finally, after sieving and decanting one or two times, the wine rests from two to four months in barrels of French oak, following which the wine is lightly strained and bottled on the property.
In Juan Escudero two wine loving family sagas and more than two decades of personal work merge to produce the current wine. A personal wine, influenced by a robust family character that gathers the best of Navarra and the Canary Islands, thus combining the wisdom of the past with current production techniques.
To the hallmark of family tradition one must add technological aspects, such as the weather station installed in the vineyard, or the Estate´s laboratory for the exhaustive monitoring of the production processes.
In the winery one finds stainless steel vats, grape de-stemmers, presses and wine cooling equipment. Vinification is characterized by a minimum of intervention, carried out in an almost artisan way, with fermentation at a controlled temperature. The wine barrels are made of fine grained French oak. The future construction of a new winery, which will allow for increased production, is foreseen.
