2004/5. The first year we had a mere 250 vines of white Airén grapes in Carabaña and a 'place' in Tielmes. We made about 600 bottles if I remember rightly. The place we used as a winery was actually a house excavated into the side of a hill. The first two rooms on either side of the front door had windows, but the rest was completely underground. The good thing about it was that the temperature was a constant 17-18ºC all year round. The bad thing about it was that it was about 100 yds from the nearest road, and uphill, and we had to carry up the cases of grapes by hand. The worst thing about it was that the neighbour kept 6 vicious barking hunting dogs chained up on either side of the path; and the length of their chains was just so that there was a narrow, narrow strip in the middle of the path where you were safe from their snapping jaws.
Our first bodega in Tielmes in 2004/5
2005/6. The second year we had the same vineyard, but (thankfully) we moved to a house-cave in Perales, a village about 10 km from the vineyard. This was also a house excavated into the side of a hill, but with major differences. It was right in the centre of the village, so there was access by van right up to the front door; there was no neighbour with dogs. The temperature was also a constant 17-18ºC all year round. The first two rooms nearest the front door were normal rooms and that's where we set up the crusher and press and kept all our stuff. The rest of the cave was a long 100 m tunnel that bore straight into the hill, and off this tunnel were little niches, where we set up the fermentation tanks, one per niche.
2006/7. The third year we expanded the vineyard to 1200 vines (70% Airén, 30% Tempranillo) in Carabaña and moved bodega to Ambite, another village also about 10 km from the vineyard but in the other direction. This time it was an abandoned cow-shed! It took us about a month to clean it and paint it with whitewash, and to clean it and whitewash it again! This was the first year that we made red wine.
(pending: photos)
2007/8. The fourth year was the same as the third, in that we stayed in the same bodega and didn't take on any new wineyards.
2008/9. The fifth year we took on a second much larger vineyard in Ambite, with about 12 acres of Tempranillo and 6 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, but we had to abandon it after a year (see The Vineyard(s) page).
2009/10 The sixth year was the same as the fifth.
2010/11. The seventh year we took on a new vineyard in Villarejo (see The Vineyard(s) page) and we are sharing a 'real' winery in Morata de Tajuña.
2011/12. This year we are still getting ready to take the plunge one day, and work in Vinos Ambiz 100%. We've found an investor and so this year we hope to expand our production so as to eventually reach an economically viable critical size. We're hoping to move into a new bodega this summer. We're currently looking at a 700 m2 industrial shed in Carabaña, only 2 km from the vineyard. Built in the 1960's, it's not a pretty sight, but it's functional. It's got a stone-tile floor, concrete brick walls, a false ceiling and very small windows, so it shouldn't get too hot while the wines are fermenting. It's certainly an improvement over some of the places we've used as wineries.
It's taken us a long time to get to where we are today, and depending on which way you look at it, it's either not much to write home about, or a huge achievement to be proud of!
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