Finca La Hornaca, Tacoronte-Acentejo, Tenerife

Finca La Hornaca is a family run winery situated in the Tacoronte-Acentejo region in the northwest corner of Tenerife. The wine "Hoya del Navio" has its name from a little cove near the vineyard where pirates used to sneak in to plunder the nearby villages.

The two hectar vineyard is located near the Guayonge ravine at an altitude of 250 masl. Thanks to the trade winds, the winters are mild and summers cool. The vines are trained in a trellis with a simple cord in a northeast-southwest orientation to achieve good aeration.

The farm has a long history and was once part of Finca El Pino a model biodynamic farm run by a collaborator to Rudolf Steiner, the father of Biodynamic farming.

Jesús Rodríguez-Franco Castro acquired La Hornaca by heritage and planted Listan Negro and Negramoll in 1995, coinciding with the region Tacoronte-Acentejo becoming Denominación de Origen (DO). The viniculture has always been ecological to honour the legacy of the farm and respecting the configuration of the land with its terraces to preserve the original landscape. The vineyards are treated with comprehensive care, based on prevention, nutrition and restoring soil life in order to get more rustic and resistant and healthy plants and fruits with more flavour. Initially the grapes were sold to another winery, but in 2006 Jesus decided to make his own wine. Already in 2008 the wines were rewarded in national contests for wines from organic grapes and rewards have continued ever since including a gold medal at the Mundus Vini BioFach in 2012.

The winery Finca La Hornaca is a genuine family and artisan enterprise producing an unbeatable “garage wine”.