Cap de Barbaria

Ophiusa was the first name of Formentera and in Greek it means «island of the serpents». Pliny the Elder wrote about the dangerous snakes of the island, but there were never any snakes there: what he is assumed to have seen, or been told about, were the sargantanes, the lizards that are still everywhere.

The winery started in 2000, some six kilometres from Sant Francesc along the road that climbs to the Cap de Barbària lighthouse, the one that crowns a sheer hundred-metre cliff above the sea. The estate is called Can Andreuet.

What they set out to do was put the island's two varieties, monastrell and fogoneu, together with cabernet sauvignon and merlot.

The vineyard is a hectare and a half: one hectare of cabernet sauvignon at 60% and merlot at 40%, and half a hectare of monastrell and fogoneu from vines of 40 to 50 years. The cabernet sits on sand and the merlot on stony ground.

Each variety is picked and made separately. It is destemmed, gently crushed and fermented in stainless steel. The cabernet and merlot age eight months in French oak; the monastrell and fogoneu stay in steel tank.