More about Victoria Torres Pecis

It’s the rare winemaker who must contemplate potential volcanic eruptions, but that’s the life Victoria Torres Pecis chose. She works on the island of La Palma, part of the Canary Islands chain, where there was a notable eruption in late 2021.

We talk a lot about ‘island wine’, as a concept, and Victoria’s wines encapsulate the extreme conditions found on her home turf. It’s the most north-westerly island in the archipelago, reaching further into the Atlantic Ocean and away from the mainland of Africa. Fierce winds constantly blow, and though it’s generally warm year round, its particular microclimate ensures lots of cloud cover and wet winters. It’s not an easy place to live, much less farm!

Because the Canary Islands are phylloxera-free (the vineyard pest cannot survive in soils of sand or ash, and La Palma is blanketed by dark volcanic ash called picón) that blankets the ground), the vines are quite old — in Victoria’s case, her family’s vines are easily 100+ years old. She also works diligently to source fruit from neighboring vineyards; this often means convincing farmers to work organically.

Her goal is to revitalize the island’s vineyards and to preserve the long-standing traditions of La Palma. She learned how to make wine from her father, and the family’s winery is rife with old, low-tech tools, like stone lagares (huge vats used to foot stomp grapes and start the fermentation process) and chestnut barrels. There’s no temperature control, native yeasts are employed, and aging is done in either stainless steel or very old American and French oak vessels.