Bimbache Grand Cruz del Calvario 2024

Rayco Fernandez and his team in El Hierro present the Bimbache Vinícola project. 

Bimbache Grand Cruz del Calvario 2024 is a wine that has captivated critics. The name, very much in keeping with Rayco’s sense of humour, refers to his vineyard’s ‘Grand Cru’ classification on the hillside, but also alludes to the difficulty of growing vines in the Canary Islands (calvary and ordeal). 

Like all wines from the island of El Hierro, it is unique: made from a blend of local grape varieties including Vijariego Blanco (also known as Diego), Listán Blanco, Gual (or Uval), Baboso Blanco and Forastera Blanca. The vines are planted around the winery in the north-west of the island, a cooler area strongly influenced by the Atlantic trade winds. 

The must fermented in various barrels, where the wine was subsequently left to age for 9 months. The winemaking process combines fermentation with indigenous yeasts and minimal intervention, without filtering or fining, and with minimal sulphur added prior to bottling.

Few Spanish wines display these extreme characteristics, more typical of a German Riesling: 10.6 grams of acidity, combined with an extremely low pH of 2.8, that result in a wine with an incredibly refreshing and mouthwatering.

In the glass, it comes across as very fresh and somewhat closed, due to its youth, but the wine has great ageing potential and will reward those who can lay it down!

Around 1,300 bottles were produced under this label, bottled in June 2025.

97 Parker points!