The Pago de Marinacea –with vines in glass over a hundred years old– is of family origin, inherited from the great-grandparents passing through the grandparents and parents until reaching one of their daughters, Pilar, who is my wife. She always saw how her grandparents and her father used part of the grapes to make wine, in the cellar they had at home – in Toro it is normal for many houses to have the cellar below – and the rest of the grapes were sold to the cellars of the village.

I was always passionate about seeing how my father-in-law and brother-in-law made wine, so that’s when I decided to make a wine for us in the cellar. I never sold wine, I only did it for family and friends, although the latter were the ones who were always encouraging me to offer it to the public.

So in 2015 I started this project and we created the Pago de Marinacea brand within the Toro denomination of origin to which the vineyards belong.

Joseph Ballesteros