Borja Pérez Viticultor

Borja Pérez Gonzalez is a fourth-generation winemaker from Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands, where his family has been making wine since 1927. He grew up in his family’s winery in La Guancha, a town in the northwest of Tenerife, surrounded by a stunning variety of vineyards in the historic growing area of D.O. Ycoden-Daute-Isora. He studied agronomy in college, then worked as a firefighter and race car mechanic, before buying the family winery from his father and uncle and launching his own project in 2011: Ignios Orígenes, dedicated to single vineyards of Tenerife’s most intriguing local grape varieties: Listán Negro, Baboso Negro, Vijariego Negro, and the rare white Marmajuelo. While discussions of Canary Island wines are often dominated by the obscurity of the local varieties, the own-rooted vineyards, the dramatic volcanic terroirs and their customized training methods, Borja’s wines are fascinating beyond the sum of their undeniably esoteric parts. They all display aromatic exuberance, rich textures, depth of flavor, and an overall level of sophistication that is frankly shocking coming from a young winemaker, particularly one who didn’t grow up in a region known for sensitive, terroir-driven winemaking. Artífice (Spanish for “creator” or “artisan”) is Borja’s second label, an homage to his grandfather and the growers with whom Borja collaborates. Artífice Tinto, Blanco, and Viduenos are stunning regional wines, composed of many tiny parcels that combine to express the diverse soils, altitudes, and farming styles of Ycoden-Daute-Isora. Borja’s farming is organic and winemaking is natural, with no additives other than SO2, no temperature control, stabilization, clarifying (other than natural settling) or fining. White wines receive a light filtration.

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