In the spring of 2003, the La Melonera team drew up a plan for a mammoth undertaking: to revive a 3,000 year old wine tradition, for the Spanish region of Ronda, and for the world in general.
This is their dream…
One afternoon in April 2003 winemaker, Javier Suqué, from one of the most important wine families in Spain, told his cousin, Jorge Viladomiu Peitx, of his dream of doing something different, something which would leave a mark for future generations, and at the same time pay tribute to a lifetime devoted to the cultivation of the vine.
They set out to find the best location for the creation of some unique wines. After much research among the vast tomes of books residing in the library at Castillo de Perelada, owned by the Suqué Mateu family since 1923, they found the answer in the pages of a book written in 1807 by Simón de Rojas Clemente. In it, he described the unique features of the “Serranía de Ronda” and its ancient winemaking tradition, interrupted in the late 19th century by the phylloxera plague.
The region’s indigenous vines were patiently tracked down and revived; to return them to Ronda, a land bathed in Mediterranean sun, cleansed by Atlantic winds and steeped in a wine-growing tradition dating from Phoenician times. Gradually their work paid off, and today, with the La Encina del Inglés and El Payoya Negra wines, what was once just a dream is now a reality.