Rancho La Romana closes: Werner Wiedemann hands over cult venue in Peguera

Last weekend at Rancho La Romana: farewell with music and delicacies

At the end of this week a chapter will close in Peguera: Werner Wiedemann, the man behind Rancho La Romana, is handing over his country inn. After more than 30 years on the island, a new operator from Germany will take over, who plans to renovate first. For many regulars that means: go one more time, shake hands, and collect memories.

No quiet ending

Will plates simply be cleared and that’s it? Not with Werner. On Saturday evening a hard-rock band was on stage, on Sunday there was a Bavarian table round with Weisswurst, Leberkäse and Frikadellen, served by hand. I was there around 7 pm: the air smelled of frying, glasses clinked, and among the old wooden chairs people told anecdotes from the 90s. There is everything that has feet, said a friend, and that’s how it turned out.

From butcher to island face

Wiedemann, born in 1948, is a trained butcher and came to Mallorca by chance a little over three decades ago. Chance became passion. He has cooked for sports events, Christmas markets and private celebrations—and yes, there are one or two stories about prominent orders: customers, big bags, even bigger laughs. The man laughs a lot, stays down to earth and self-ironically calls his new phase “restless retirement.”

What stays, what comes

He does not want quiet. There are events coming up — including the Oktoberfest in Santa Ponça mid-October and the Christmas market at the end of November. He also plans an online sale of his home-cooked fare: Weisswurst, sausages, perhaps a kilo of memories by post. Morning walking rounds and a staged leg on the Way of St. James are meant to fill daily life. Will he write a book? Not for now — he has enough anecdotes, but he spares the pathos.

For Peguera, the end of Rancho La Romana means a piece of local history less; for Werner, a new round. Those who know him know: it won’t go quiet around him.