After 15 years growing grapes, Lanzarote winegrower Miguel Morales decided to follow the advice of his father Pablo, a part-time farmer, and stop selling in bulk to bottle his own wine. He thus joined the incipient crop of small winegrowers from Lanzarote who have decided to make their own wine instead of selling the grapes to the major bodegas on the island.

He called it Tisalaya, as the family vineyard in which it was born, and Miguel, who was previously a civil servant, embarked on this new adventure as an artisan winemaker. Canarian oenologist Carlos Lozano, who works as technical director at Llanovid, the cooperative in La Palma, advises him on winemaking and vineyard management.

Faced with the dominance of Volcanic Malvasia in Lanzarote, the Morales family decided to focus on the Diego white variety (also known on other islands as Vijariego). They grow it in holes dug in the volcanic ash or rofe, the traditional system of this island, in a small plot with vines over 90 years old and clay loam soils. These vines are planted in 1.45 hectares in Tisayala, an area 250 meters above the sea level between Masdache and Tinajo, in the centre of Lanzarote. In addition to a leased Diego vineyard in the Juan Bello area, he has another vineyard in Tinajo where he cultivates some Listán Negro and Malvasía.

Their first vintage was 2017 and they produced 1,500 bottles that were sold in restaurants in Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Madrid. Unfortunately, Pablo died in May 2018, without seeing the bottling he had wanted so much, and that was finally done later that year. A 100% Diego, Tisalaya macerated for 12 hours with its skins. The must was separated into free-run juice, half free-run juice and press juice and fermented with its own yeasts without malolactic fermentation. The wine was aged with its lees for nine months in stainless steel tanks. Work in the vineyard is not yet organic but according to Miguel, their viticulture practices are "as sustainable as possible".

Their first vintage was 2017 and they produced 1,500 bottles that were sold in restaurants in Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Madrid. Unfortunately, Pablo died in May 2018, without seeing the bottling he had wanted so much, and that was finally done later that year. A 100% Diego, Tisalaya macerated for 12 hours with its skins. The must was separated into free-run juice, half free-run juice and press juice and fermented with its own yeasts without malolactic fermentation. The wine was aged with its lees for nine months in stainless steel tanks. Work in the vineyard is not yet organic but according to Miguel, their viticulture practices are "as sustainable as possible".

It could be said that Tisalaya is a garage wine. The winery, located in the town of Tinajo, is a small space next to Miguel's home where he vinifies, labels and bottles manually. There is an old-school wine press and small stainless steel tanks in which, in addition to Tisalaya, Miguel experiments with small cuvées.

Since 2019, all of his wines are under the seal of DO Lanzarote, thus allowing to mention the grape variety on the label, something that may likely appeal to adventurous wine lovers.

After Tisalaya, two new wines have been added to the range under the brand La Vegueta: a white blend of Diego and Malvasía (around €22 in Spain) with a short skin maceration and aged with its lees in stainless steel tanks; and a red Listán Negro (around €16). Both are made in tiny quantities of fewer than 1,000 bottles.