Ribera del Duero-Day 1
Day four took us on another long bus drive (2.5 hours) from Rioja toRibera del Duero. The program began as something of a continuation of the day before. Oh yeah, different venue, this time Bodegas Diaz Bayo in the northern part of the Ribera known as Fuentelcésped. This particular property was owned by a Snr. Diaz Bayo, a grower with ten generations of history in the region who was also the mayor of the nearby town. His winemaker, who conducted the tour of what appeared to be a fairly new facility (the hotel/wine tourism center next to the winery was not quite finished) was none other than our guide for the better part of the previous day, the irrepressible David Sampedro.
He is the winemaker of Nuestro (Spanish for ‘ours’), the Ribera del Duero from Diaz Bayo. wines. They apparently had just finished building an ultra modern winery. Everything moves around the winery via gravity flow. There were three sets of fermentation vats, cement (which David admits is his preference because it aerates more than stainless and imparts no flavor which oak does). There was also a bank of three stainless tanks down the center of the wnery and three wood uprights (Allier we were told) on the opposite wall.
Something we saw here that we had never seen before in our travels was a large commercial refrigerator in a shed right off the vineyard. The reasoning was shockingly practical. A lot of folks have employed various schemes to get the grapes into the winery in what they feel is optimum condition. At Diaz Baco, they harvest everything in small crates like a lot of quality oriented wineries do, the idea being minimizing the bruising and breaking of the skins under the weight of the other grapes. But here David is concerned about getting everything into the fermenters at the same temperature rather than having the kinds of pockets of varied temperature you might experience during harvest time. To accomplish this, they merely stack the luggers (crates) in the cooler overnight so everything arrives into the winery the next morning at a consistent and cool temperature.
Vines and grain aren't usually neighbors
There was another unusual observation we made while touring the some of the vineyards in Avanda del Duero. There were patches of vines interspersed with plots growing grain. In most wine growing areas we’ve ever been to, vines thrive in soils that are nutrient poor, not at all where one would attempt to grow crops. Watering regimens and needs are rather different as well. Apparently the reasoning was strictly economic as the growers found the the quick cash crops like wheat provides come in handy.
Lunch that day was one of those special moments, roasted pig at la Ermita de la Nava located next to a church built centuries prior. It was a great old building in the vineyards with a tremendous sort of hunting lodge/farmhouse kind of feel. Some pig, some lamb, some ham (of course) and the well made, moderately priced Nuestra Ribera 2006 made quite a pleasant combination.
Mmmm, pork...
The evening stop Bodegas Hornillos Ballesteros who produce the Mibal wines. This is another case of long time resident growers creating a label, in this case in a truly garage type setting. In this case Miguel Hornillos and Javier Ballesteros (winemaker) are the long time friends who started the label. Also an integral part of the team is Cristina, Miguel’s sister and Javier’s fiancee. Though it was arguably the most modest of the wineries we visited, it was the one that probably had been our biggest seller from the Olé portfolio as far as the wine goes. Small boutique garage type wineries are pretty unusual in this area. We were here to taste the 2008 barrels, 2007 Mibal and 2006 Seleccion, as well as their top of the line bottling Perfil (the 2005) which we had not seen before. A trip to the vineyard followed plenty of wine and plenty of food in the cellar (tight quarters but very accommodating) and we were sufficiently prepared for a good night’s sleep at the beautiful Hotel Conventos las Claras in the shadow of the Penafiel Castle.
Hotel Conventos de las Claras
Tags: Ribera del Duero, Spain
