Wine tasting in Ribera Del Duero, Spain
We went on a wine tour led by Alberto and joined with one other couple, Renee and Harvey from Florida. We had a long ride (2+hrs) traveling across the Sierra de Guadarrama Mountains to reach our destination. Ribera Del Duero is one of 69 recognized wine regions in Spain. It’s primary varietal is Tempranillo which does well in a dry climate. In the map below, you can see our destination Ribera del Duero (dark purple North of Madrid.) La Mancha (below Madrid in light blue) is where we visited a winery as part of our tour to Toledo earlier in the week. Next week, we will visit Rioja for three nights. While on the ship, I had done a wine tasting that included a wine from the Ribera Del Duero region so I was excited to do a tasting in the region.
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| A few of the 69 wine regions in Spain are highlighted. |
Our first stop is Dominio de Cair which has an impressive building with an entrance that resembles a wine barrel. It is a modern new winery built in 2008, but with very old vines. The character of this wine region is heavily focused on the age of the vines. Old vines 25, 50, 75 years old with low production are highly valued. Come September, the fruit is harvested by hand. This contrasts with California where vines are replaced to keep production up. Fruit often harvested by machine. They own 33 hectares, and purchase grapes from other farming an additional 103 hectares under the supervision of the wine maker.
This is the only winery that we experience “the tour.” It held a couple pleasant surprises. They had three different types of tanks for the first fermentation. In the picture below, you see large oak tanks, stainless steel tanks and concrete tanks. We had never seen or heard of concrete tanks, but they were quite proud as that provides a porous container in between the Oak and stainless tanks.
A fun aspect of the tour was the discussion of barrels. They use both French and American Oak with different toasts. The bottom left image shows the four different amount of toast for both American and French Oak. Toasting is charring of the inside of the barrel. After hearing how the type of Oak influenced the wine, our task was to taste the same young wine aged in both a French and American barrel of the same toast and identify the source of the barrel. 1 of 4 got it right. :)
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| The demonstration of different Oaks and toasts was special |
It’s time for a tasting. They have set up a wonderful room with a gorgeous view of the vineyard. Surprisingly, the table is full of food in addition to the tasting glasses. I assume it’s the lunch that is included in the tour, but I am wrong. Lunch is scheduled for the third winery.
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| A Hobbit would call this second breakfast |
We sampled three of their wines. (Click on the links to learn more) The first Selection “La Aguilera” 2019 was produced from vineyards over 45 years old. Young by their standards. It had 5% Merlot while the next two are 100% Tempranillo with much older vines. We also tried: Tierras de Clair and Cruz del Pendon. Carol and I have different preferences in wine, but we can always find something we both like. In this case she liked the second best and I the third, so we compromised on a bottle of the first which we both enjoyed.
Our next stop is amazingly different than the first. The van stops in a residential neighborhood. I ponder if the winery is in someone’s basement? I then notice what looks like a storage shed, but instead it is the entrance to an underground tunnel. We get out and meet our host. She then takes us inside and down 12 meters, where in the 16th Century people dug out this Cellar. There are 30 similar cellars in the area.
The winery’s name is Nabal and it is operated by 3 cousins. Our host is one of those 3 cousins. They use this old cellar for a tasting room rather than the modern facility depicted on their website. It’s a great space that enchants all of us. It’s a new venture for them. The family is long time Vintner's, but the 3 cousins set out to try something new, Enotourism or Wine tourism. Traditional winery’s in Spain don’t have elaborate tasting rooms. They focus on selling to distributors. The business is starting to change with a few medium to large winery’s taking a page from Napa and creating a destination experience. At this stop we both agree on the Reserva 2016 Tempranillo from vines averaging 90-100 years old. We also liked an unusual Rose, Rosado De Lagrima 2022 Tempranillo & Garnacha (Grenache)
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| 16th century cellar |
Though I’m still full from our first stop, it’s time for lunch at our third winery. Alvides is another large facility. They have a similar history, in that they inherited some small vineyards in the 60s, but launched a large modern facility in 2001 that then grew into wine tourism. Our host is a Sommelier from Argentina with a British accent. Everything in that sentence is unusual.
- I expect a Sommelier at an expensive restaurant, not a wine tasting.
- How is it an Argentinian is working in rural Spain?
- Why does she have a British accent?
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| Lunch |
Our last stop is at Valdubon, one of four wineries owned by Ferrer Miranda. They started near Barcelona in 1861 expanding into sparkling wine in 1914. The family operates 3 wineries in Spain and another in Argentina.
This should have been called the Food and Wine tour as we find plates of chocolate covered Strawberries and Cherries to enjoy with our wine. Some (not us) may question Chocolate, but it was a perfect pairing with our clear favorite. The tasting notes Valdubon Diez describes the collaborative effort to smooth full bodied wine that has a taste of dark cherry. This is a low production wine made in select years on vines averaging 75 years of age.
After the tasting we had a chance to look at some vines. Picture below shows what the flowers look like. They had a slightly sweet subdued smell. At the top of the page is a picture of the young fruit from a vine next to the one pictured below.
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