There are different ways to visit a winery. The most usual is joining an organized tour.

There is another which is more attractive. It is when you are invited by the owner, the winemaker, or either the manager. When this happens you have the possibility to know many things about what’s behind a bottle of wine… its label, its colour, its flavour, the final product, the winery, the personality of the main actors.

Every time I am going to a tasting, I try to sharpen my senses in order to achieve to perceive what the wine I am tasting has special. «How difficult is to succeed in a blind tasting!». The game changes a lot if you know the wine and you have a lot of information about a concrete winery.

On the tasting I am trying to see how each piece of information that I have fits into that product I am tasting. How was the weather of this year, the type of grape, how it has been collected, how the vineyard has been worked, characteristics of the facilities, etc. I try to discover some details that perhaps I would not be able to perceive if I had not this additional information. This wine I am tasting is not any more one among thousands. This allows me to be a lot more sensitive about getting into more little details.

Pedro Hernández introduced me to Victor Balbas, owner and manager of Bodegas Viña Solorca. Pedro is the designer of the winery we are visiting and of some others. It’s an aditional pleasure to be also with him. Because I can see how he looks at, when he is front of his works. There is a twinkle in his eyes of pride and affection in front of his own work.

Victor receives us very kindly, but he has a this moment some problems to solve that does not allow him dedicate to us all his attention. For this reason is Pedro Hernandez who makes most of the commentaries while we visit the different places in the winery. A very nice experience to listen to the winery designer!

Viña Solorca facilities are wonderful, much better than many other well known Ribera wineries. With a spectacular fill line. A beautiful barrel room has been built mainly for efficiency as the prioritary factor.

We visit the awards room in which we can see they have quite a good amount of them.

After the visit we went to the splendid dining room available to be used in feasts and meals with clients of the winery. We entered a small room. It is a this moment that I feel there is a great change in Victor´s attitude, now totally focused on us. His chef has prepared a delicious fish to be accompanied by a Viña Solorca gran Selección 2004.

This new Victor is someone mucho closer to us, exposing the many projects, ideas and inventions that he has in mind. Some of them already executed and some only on experimentation phase. He never talks about crisis but of solutions, alternatives, of trying new things. I can see now a very creative and executive man. I think he has most of the qualities that a true entrepreneur should have.

It continues on: Viña Solorca. Ribera del Duero. Víctor Balbás, an amazing businessman. (2)

Spanish version: Viña Solorca. Ribera del Duero. Víctor Balbás, un empresario sorprendente.