Our story
Born in 1725
In the Genal Valley, in the heart of the Serranía de Ronda, wrapped in a secret, with a firm will and an adventurous spirit.
The chapel, open again to every voice
The secret of making tinplate, one of the best kept of its time; the will to build a complex industrial works, with the first blast furnace in Spain; and the adventurous spirit of the ships that were widening the world, their hulls protected with our tinplate.
After almost three centuries of loss and neglect, the Royal Tinplate Factory has been reborn and has recovered its former splendour: the Room of Secrets and its mysteries, the furnace that emerged intact, the Chapel open again to every voice and every art, and the roar of work in the Rolling Hall.
Today wine is the heart of life at the Royal Factory. Natural and organic wines grow and evolve in its barrels, in the shade of a hundred year old walnut tree that shelters and cools the cellar, and in memory of the barrels in which, three centuries ago, German engineers arrived in hiding with the formula for tinplate.
A surprising winery in a place full of history, nature and mystery. Come and discover us.
The founder
A winemaker by vocation
An economist by training, Enrique Ruiz built a long career in international cooperation, with a personal commitment so deep that he feels as Spanish as he does Nicaraguan or Uruguayan. A lover of old maps and flags, he nonetheless stands for a fraternal world, free of labels and of the straitjacket of nationalism.
After decades of a professional and personal journey that had him living in more than a dozen countries, he found his place in the world among the ruins of thick old walls on the banks of the river Genal, in the Málaga village of Júzcar. Years of steady work brought the Royal Tinplate Factory back out of the undergrowth and the layers of earth, in a meticulous restoration recognised in 2018 with the Hispania Nostra Award for intervention in the territory or the landscape.
A winemaker by vocation, he has steered the Royal Factory towards organic and natural wines, with particular care and respect for the environment in the vineyard and in the cellar, in small, numbered runs.
His wines pair especially well with reunions and celebrations, with unhurried conversations, and even with quiet moments of solitude.
Visit us
Fancy coming over?
Tell us what you would like to do and how many of you there are. We answer by email or on WhatsApp, whichever suits you.
- Where we are
- Júzcar, Genal valley, Serranía de Ronda, Málaga, Spain.
- Visits
- Always by appointment.
- Phone or WhatsApp
- +34 619 75 11 64