Closing time: iNNoble bows out for good

iNNoble has called it a day quietly, with a brief, no-nonsense email to subscribers and followers that offered no last-minute twist. “There isn’t even a final meme: we’re closing up shop. Issue 8 of iNNoble Magazine was the last. The June 2025 festival too.”

The project, driven by Armando Guerra and Rayco Fernández —two indefatigable agitators on Spain’s wine scene— began life in 2017 with what would become the country’s most free-spirited wine festival. That first, 14-hour marathon at El Espejo restaurant in Sanlúcar brought together two dozen producers —Willy Pérez, Ramiro Ibáñez, Primi Collantes, Paola Medina, Jonatan García, Julia Casado, Germán Blanco and Niepoort among them— and well over 100 sherry obsessives, from Abel Valdenebro and Juancho Asenjo to the author of these lines.

Many of us left as newly minted “innoblers” and returned unfailingly to the biannual rendezvous over four editions: the one at the bullring, two back at El Espejo, and another at the Orléans winery. And when, years later, Armando and Rayco embarked on the madly romantic adventure of launching a print magazine at the height of the digital boom, more than 1,000 people subscribed without a second thought.

The final tally speaks for itself: five editions of the festival and eight issues of the magazine, largely built by the founders alongside their day jobs. The only full-time role was held by Leonor García, a true all-rounder and a crucial cog in the machine. “She carried a huge amount of responsibility for both the magazine and the festival and was the one who made sure everything made sense and arrived on time,” say Armando and Rayco. Leonor is now part of Armando’s team, working both at Club Contubernio and at the family winery Vinos Según Cede.

Good memories

“Building iNNoble meant building a cultural project around wine, not just a festival or a magazine. And it was a huge effort,” explains Rayco. “We’re talking about more than 1,000 people drinking, dancing and sharing over two days at the last edition; a magazine with its own editorial voice, deliberately unclassifiable and consistent with the festival’s spirit; and a community that understood wine from a different perspective.”

It was never a business —nor was it meant to be— but it also proved financially unsustainable in the long run. Rayco sums it up with his trademark sense of humour: “As Concha Piquer used to say, ‘if I don’t make money, I don’t enjoy myself’. Culture also needs structure, energy and viability if it’s to remain honest.”

The decision to close was taken months ago, with a clear intention to finish properly: seeing the year through and publishing the final issue of the magazine. What they did not anticipate was the flood of messages in recent days —memories, anecdotes, thank-yous… even the story of a marriage proposal during the 2023 festival. “The outpouring of affection has overwhelmed us. Only now do we realise the scale iNNoble reached,” they admit. “And that confirms something important: projects like this, even when they end, don’t disappear. iNNoble is already a way of living wine —and a small legend too.”

From here on, each will refocus on their own projects: Armando on Club Contubernio, Taberna der Guerrita and the family winery Vinos Según Cede in Sanlúcar; Rayco on Bimbache, the project he shares with his wife on the island of El Hierro in the Canary Islands, and on his PR agency Buena Uva, which has just announced a new video-podcast.

For now, there are no offers to revive the festival, although both agree the space it occupied is still very much there. “Festive, pleasure-driven events are essential because they make wine more accessible and appealing,” says Armando. “Someone will pick up the baton, elsewhere and under another name. Wine needs less solemnity and more enjoyment.”

Anyone up for it?