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A Winery with a long History
Established Winemakers since 1840, and bottling under the label VENAKKI, stands the Bodega Antigua Casa de Guardia, operating uninterruptedly for over 173 years. The first and oldest winery in Malaga, Spain was first founded by the Spanish gentleman Don José de la Guardia, and appointed in 1862 as Official Supplier winery to Her Royal Majesty the Queen Isabel II of Spain.
From that moment on, a special relation was formed between the founder, the Royal House and H.M. The Queen, that ordered continuous expeditions of wines to her palace. This is the main reason that served as inspiration for the winery to create a special and very unique limited Edition in honor of H.M. The Queen; the acclaimed Transañejo S.M. Doña Isabel II (H.R.M. Isabel II). It was very much appreciated by H.M. the Queen, as soon after, the winemaker was also appointed Governor of Segovia by Her Royal Majesty Isabel II, an honor that our winery founder accepted gladly.
In 1895, favored by this appointment, Don Enrique Navarro came to buy the Bodega and personally oversee and manage it with equal passion until the time of his death.
In 1932, after Don Enrique passed away, the bodega and all its properties were inherited by Don José Ruiz Luque who also dedicated his full life to manage it, following the same philosophy of its founder.
By the time of his death, the bodega and all its properties were left to his nephew, José Garijo Ruiz, who became the most important patron for the cellar during the 20th century, dedicating all his life to producing and promoting the best Malaga wines in their purest essence known.
Since 1997, the Garijo family has continued the winemaking tradition, assuring the quality heritage of the D.O. Malaga wines and adds to this celebrated Generous Wines D.O. Malaga, a line of Still Wines under the denomination D.O. Sierras de Malaga.
For the 21st century and allied with Master Artisan Jay Venakki, important investments were made, in both facilities and technology that promote the production of superior quality wines, whilst safeguarding the history and the traditional methods and skills of fine winemaking.