Despite being one of the best known wineries in Lanzarote, Los Bermejos was founded as recently as 2001 but it is built next to an 18th century mansion that belonged to one of the island's most prominent families. They exported Malvasía to the United States and brought wood from Virginia. The name Los Bermejos comes from the property in Juan Bello, in the municipality of San Bartolomé, one of the main areas where grapes are grown on this island in the Canaries.
Los Bermejos works with 350 grape growers who supply more than 800,000 kg of grapes each year, although there are large variations in production depending on the vintage. Together with Bodegas El Grifo, just two kilometres away, Los Bermejos is the largest wine producer on the island.
The main variety they work with is the indigenous Malvasía Volcánica, a spontaneous cross between Malvasía Aromática and Bermejuela. According to Ignacio Valdera, partner and winemaker at Los Bermejos, Malvasía Volcánica has less aromas but it richer than the Aromática on the palate.
Los Bermejos owns some vineyards, although they only represent 10% of its production, with yields that do not exceed 1,000kg/Ha in the vineyards cultivated in holes in La Geria and covered with rofe, the volcanic ash that emerged after the eruptions of 1730-1736. It is a porous soil, which drains well the barely 150 litres/m2 of annual rainfall. On this semi-desert island, the harvest usually begins in July —the first place in the northern hemisphere— and the rofe maintains humidity on the fertile soil buried under the ash.
Fourteen different wines are made in Los Bermejos, but 60% of the production corresponds to its star wine, Bermejo Malvasía Seco. The 200,000-300,000 bottles are sold almost entirely in the Canary Islands, with just 10% in the United States and another 10% on the peninsula. It is a wine with fruity and floral aromas, lighter than Bermejo Malvasía Seco Fermentado en Barrica (4,000 bottles). The estate's second best-selling wine is Bermejo Malvasía Semidulce, with 5% Moscatel (70,000-80,000 bottles). The sparkling Malvasía Brut Nature (6,000 bottles), whose second fermentation is carried out by adding fresh Malvasía must, and the Bermejo Naturalmente Dulce (5,000 bottles), made with grapes from late harvests and whose ageing is done in a kind of solera (only 20% of each barrel is drawn out on each saca since 2005), complete the range of Malvasías made by this bodega in Lanzarote.
Three wines are made with Listán Negro: the sparkling Bermejo Rosado Brut Nature with 24 months ageing on lees (7,000 bottles), Bermejo Carbonic Maceration (20,000 bottles) and Bermejo Traditional Maceration (20,000 bottles) aged in barrels for four months.
Los Bermejos is committed to the production of organic wines with the Diego variety (known as Vijariego in other islands of the archipelago). Each vineyard and area is vinified separately and they work with selected yeasts and without clarification. Two versions of the Diego variety were marketed in 2015: an organic wine from a vineyard in Juan Bello (citrus, white flowers) and a conventionally produced wine (more tropical notes). Both were released again in the 2018 harvest with a short time in barrel (15,000 bottles).
Finally, Bermejo Moscatel Naturalmente Dulce is made in a solera system and is sold with the vintage (2,000 bottles).
In order to stand out from the competition, all wines, except the estate's sparkling wines, are sold in a distinctive bottle reminiscent of perfume or oil that was patented in Italy. Since their production reached a substantial volume, the bottle is produced in the Canary Islands. What remains unchanged in all the wines, at least in the winery's online shop, is the price (€17.50 when 12 bottles are purchased).
The winery accepts visits with prior reservation and wines can be purchased in a small shop in the winery.
