An ambitious project to change an old farm into a vineyard, bodega and luxury hotel seems to have ground to a halt in the midst of a cloud of confusion and contradiction.
Designed by an architect well experienced in such matters, Jesús Manzanares, the conversion project for Torralbenc Vell's 80 hectares would have cost 7.5 million euros. Carefully designed to have a minimum impact on the landscape, the majority of the wooden bodega would have been constructed below ground level although it would have been supplied with natural light. The various houses and outbuildings on the farm would have been converted to a luxury rural hotel, comprising a main building, suites, a 'chill out' area, spa, landscaped terraces and grounds, swimming pool and restaurant.
The first vines were planted on the farm in 2007, before permission had been received, leading to the promoters being denounced by GOB (or SEPRONA in the Island Council's version) and fined. Permission for the vineyard was granted in 2009.
Although the project was presented to the Island Council by Manzanares, this was never rubber-stamped.
Disagreement over the project led to Manzanares leaving the company, Torralbenc Vell S.L., and his former partners in September 2009.
Whether the project has been shelved permanently and whether this was a decision taken by the company or was the result of bureaucratic red tape, it seems a shame that a scheme that would have revitalised a failing agricultural economy and attracted a new type of tourist appears to have fallen by the wayside.