Winemaker Carmen Gloria Ferrera and writer Cecilia Domínguez, winner of the Canarias Literature Award, are the stars of the third day of the XIII Campus of Ethnography and Folklore in Ingenio.
Wine and poetry came together this Wednesday during the third day of the XIII Campus of Ethnography and Folklore at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, held as part of the XXXI International Folklore Festival Villa de Ingenio. The Tenerife winemaker Carmen Gloria Ferrera and the writer Cecilia Domínguez, winner of the Canarias Literature Award, delivered two lectures that, from different perspectives, coincided in defending heritage as something that only endures if there are people willing to care for it and pass it on.
Wine as heritage, love, and patience
Ferrera, head of Bodegas Ferrera in Arafo (Tenerife), opened the session with the lecture ‘Wine: Heritage, Love, and Patience’. Introduced by Doctor in Philology and verse-maker Yeray Rodríguez, the winemaker explained that her title encapsulates the philosophy that has guided several generations of her family. “We have inherited a legacy from our ancestors that we must carry forward. It requires love, because if you do not love the vineyard and agriculture, it is impossible to continue, and patience, because the vineyard does not understand haste,” she stated.
Her relationship with the land began long before she took over the family winery. “I have no memory of my life that is not linked to the vineyards or the countryside,” she confessed, before advocating for the value of Canarian native grape varieties. “We have varieties that do not exist anywhere else in the world. We do not need to compare ourselves with anyone; our strength is precisely our identity. We are privileged.”
During her talk, Ferrera defended a viticulture that respects the environment, inherited from her father. “He always said that insecticides kill the bad, but also the good. That’s why our entire estate is organic. We do not plough the land because we understand that by doing so, we disrupt its balance; we prefer to work it, respecting its cycles.” She also addressed one of the major challenges facing the sector: generational change. “We need to convince young people that they can make a living from agriculture, but also provide them with the tools to make it possible.” In her case, that continuity seems assured: her son, a lawyer by profession, is determined to “hang up his toga” to take charge of the family vineyards.
The winemaker recalled the difficulties of the early years of the business. The construction of the winery forced her family to make significant economic sacrifices, and she herself spent years visiting restaurants offering bottles that few wanted to buy. “They told us that Canarian wine was expensive. Then we understood that first we had to show our vines, our winery, our landscape. When people step into the vineyard, they understand all the work behind a glass. What is not known, is not loved.”
One of the toughest episodes in her career was the fire that ravaged much of Tenerife in 2023. Although they managed to save the estate, the heat scorched the harvest. That apparent defeat turned into an unexpected opportunity. “The grapes were practically dried out. We turned the situation around and made a sweet wine. What began with great bitterness ended up becoming a wine born from fire.”
The word as refuge against time
The second part of the day transported the audience from the fields to poetry. Cecilia Domínguez presented ‘Letters from Cilce and the Doncel of Guerea’, the correspondence in décimas she maintained for nearly two decades with poet Arturo Maccanti, which is now published as a book. It all began in 1995 when the writer decided to send Christmas greetings with a handwritten décima. Among the recipients was Arturo Maccanti. The response did not arrive by mail. “One day the doorbell rang. It was Arturo. He came with a framed sonnet because he said he did not want to respond with another décima. That was the beginning of a correspondence that lasted until his death.”
Since then, both writers adopted two literary identities: Cilce and the Doncel of Guerea. Sometimes they exchanged a décima every week; other times, months would pass before responding. Cecilia Domínguez recalled that there was even an occasion when Maccanti wrote to her in Italian while she was in Venice. “Every time I received a décima, I imagined myself as a maiden embroidering by a frame before responding. It was a wonderful challenge.” That conversation grew to include nearly forty décimas from each author. Maccanti’s death marked the end of this epistolary relationship. “Then I wrote the farewell décima that closes the book,” noted the Tenerife poet.
The presentation included a dramatic reading of several of those compositions, where Yeray Rodríguez voiced the Doncel of Guerea while Cecilia Domínguez took on the voice of Cilce, momentarily returning the audience to the emotion of a conversation that seemed frozen in time. The afternoon of the second session of the campus concluded with a musical showcase, closing a day that united land and word as two different ways of preserving the memory of a people.
For lovers of Canarian culture, this campus remains an unmissable event. The next session promises new surprises, with talks that will continue to explore the roots of folklore and island identity. Those who missed it still have time to come to Ingenio and immerse themselves in a heritage that, like wine and poetry, is only understood when shared.
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