After years of culinary excellence, El Taller de Seve Diaz in Tenerife has earned its first Michelin star. The head chef’s focus on local produce also played a key role in securing this accolade. The restaurant is now further expanding its regional focus. In collaboration with Bodega Tajinaste, it has created four wines of its own. And the partnership could hardly be any closer.
El Taller is tucked away at 32 Calle San Felipe in Puerto de la Cruz. Anyone unfamiliar with this little restaurant is in danger of walking right past it at first. Seve Diaz brought Tenerife its eleventh Michelin star in November and immediately announced: „We’re continuing to learn and we’re continuing to dream.“
One of these dreams has now come true for the little restaurant. Diaz says: „We wanted to create something that tells our story – about where we come from, and also about those who will come after us.“ This has been achieved on several levels:
El Taller unveils its own wine collection
„When people come together who share common values, respect for the product and a passion for doing things well, the result can only be something special,“ says Diaz. He is referring to a wine collection that spans several generations of the restaurateur’s family and that of Bodega Tajinaste.
Four wines – Piero, Mina, Yayo and Mema – have been launched and are now available in the restaurant. Just like the vines, the names and even the labels originate from Tenerife. The names are linked to the families of both partners. And the labels were designed by an 18-month-old child.
„Free, imperfect and honest strokes on a canvas,“ says Diaz: „We have digitised them to create labels, whilst preserving the spontaneity of a one-and-a-half-year-old child.“ The head chef, who places great importance on a close connection to nature and regional produce – much of which is grown on his own finca in the north of Tenerife – sees wine as a link between generations: „It’s about an invisible legacy, about affection, and about the people who shape us without even realising it: our grandparents.“
For Diaz, it is „a small collection created to pay tribute to our grandparents through some of the most representative grape varieties of the Canary Islands.“ It is served in the restaurant’s dining room. Mina is based on Marmajuelo. It is a rather rare grape variety from the Canary Islands. Mema is made from Malvasía Aromática, and Piero is a Listán Blanco that undergoes oxidative ageing. All three wines cost 52 euros at Taller. Yayo costs 58 euros. The Vijariego Tinto is aged for longer, including nine months in French oak barrels.
Launching their own wine collection is also a logical next step. The restaurant already serves its own beer. Our photo gallery shows what El Taller de Seve Diaz in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, looks like and what else is served there:
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