At EL GRIFO, we make our wines with yeasts selected from our own vineyard.
After a meticulous process of isolation, identification, and cultivation, we have developed unique native strains that reinforce the volcanic and Atlantic character of our wines.
These yeasts not only guarantee stable fermentations, they also provide aromatic complexity, personality, and authenticity.
In Lanzarote, traditional wine fermentation, like the rest of the wine-growing areas, was carried out spontaneously from endemic yeasts found on the surface of the berry. These spontaneous fermentations are of great interest since they provide organoleptic qualities typical of the "terroir" of the area. However, due to the advance of commercial yeasts, spontaneous winemaking has been lost and with them all the richness they contribute to wines. That is why in 2018 a project was undertaken at Bodegas El Grifo with the aim of beginning to ferment wines from native yeasts found in the property's vineyards or from winegrowers in the area.
In order to avoid spontaneous fermentations where a large number of microorganisms proliferate apart from the Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains (yeasts responsible for transforming the sugars in the musts into alcohol), native yeast strains from Lanzarote have been selected, adapted to the characteristics of the cultivated varieties and subsequently spontaneous fermentations have been carried out only with Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeasts, these will act as indigenous microorganisms in the musts obtained.