Where Life is Breathed

THERE MAY BE MORE THAN ONE STYLE OF RIBERA DEL DUERO, BUT YOU CAN FIND A CORE FRUIT AND STRUCTURE IN EVERY BRAND THAT BLENDS ITS ESSENCE. EACH WINERY SEEKS ITS OWN FEATURE, BUT IT DOES NOT DISTORT ITS TYPICAL CHARACTER

When we talk about current Ribera del Duero, we must go back to 1864. It was back then when the Bordeaux style was introduced in the Lecanda Winery, which belonged to the Valbuena de Duero territory. It was a property dedicated to cereal and stock breeding. Along with tempranillo or fine red grow cabernet sauvignon, malbec, and merlot. Eloy Lecanda made concentrated, mature and extremely elegant wines, different from those made in Spain at the time.

However, from 1888 on, the property passed from hand to hand. In 1905, Domingo de Garramiola, aka Txomin, set the myth Vega Sicilia, perpetual until today. The first wine labeled with that brand was officially registered in 1917. Txomin's death in 1942 set out doubts with the winery. Such doubts were cleared up in 1982 when the Alvarez family acquired ownership of the property.

Vega Sicilia was unique in the region. Cooperatives in the 1970s sold their wines in large quantities and once they finished the wine harvest, they dug up the grape variety and they planted new ones. Even worse, vineyards were substituted by cereal and beetroot plantations. It was common practice.

Then, the name of Alejandro Fernandez came to light in 1972 when he founded his Pesquera winery. The beginning was not easy but time proved him right. The Master of Tempranillo, as he is known, believed this grape variety did not need company and molded the vineyards according to the weather conditions and soil. And especially, he focused on the use of the wood so the fruit of these wines could be respected and improved without losing its tipicity. It was the combination of astringency and softness, an achievable paradox.

An influential critic described Pesquera red wine as the Spanish Petrus and quickly became a model for many wine-producers in 1980. Luckily, the style of gran reservas (grand reserve) was old-fashioned and wood in winery became obsolete. Pesquera meant a new style with more color and structure; a revolution with very cheap prices, by the way.

And time has come. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food announced in 1982 a new Appellation of Origin: Ribera del Duero, with seven wineries and 6,560 hectares, very poor if we compared them with present data. From that moment on, wineproducers from Spain and other nations came to the territory. As an example of the latter, suffice to say Dominio de Pingus, today's most expensive wine in Spain.

The regulations of the Appellation of Origin standardize the varieties of wines, both red and rose wines. CRIANZA red wines shall imply a minimum ageing period of two years, with one year at least inside oak barrels.

Rose wines shall imply a minimum ageing period of two years, with eight months at least inside oak barrels. The RESERVA red wines shall imply a minimum ageing period of three years, with one year at least inside oak barrels, and the other two in the bottles. The GRAN RESERVA shall imply a minimum ageing period of five years, with two years at least inside oak barrels, and the other three in the bottles.

There may be more than one style of Ribera del Duero, but you can find a core fruit and structure in every brand that blends its essence. Each winery seeks for its own feature, but it does not distort its typical character. The unfinished business here is the rose wine.

Comparing the tempranillo Ribera del Duero with Rioja is unnecessary. First of all, weather and soil are different and both are essential in the end result. But it is the weather the responsible of such notorious difference. In Ribera, temperature is extreme. Therefore, the grape is highly concentrated. It means more intense wines in both elements: flavor and color. Rioja smells like red fruits and Ribera smells like black fruit. All things considered, this fact only shows the versatility of the variety.

Readers may reach their own conclusions. As a matter of fact, the road taken by the Appellation of Origin Ribera del Duero has been long. Does it deserve to be known as fine red to the vine variety tempranillo in Ribera del Duero? This comparison will be better cleared up with practice.