The Perez-Pardo family comes from the Caroig Massif, a rugged, very mountainous area with deep ravines, broad valleys and a very long tradition of wine making.
The Bodegawas founded in 1999. Its motivation was that of building up a winery entirely based on our own vineyards, so as to produce wines by our extensive work , beginning with our wines and ending with the satisfaction of the customers who taste our wines.
At present Bodegas Enguera possesses 160 hectares of its own vineyards, distributed between two specific areas. The first lies in the municipallity of Enguera ; there we have some 100 hectares located in various properties, the most important of which are the Antolin, Bañona, Benali, Toñuna and Venta Corrales.
Peter, the third generation of his family in Enguera Winery presents to us Cotopardo Crianza 2007, Cañada Negra 2008, and Benali 2007.
Peter also talks about the potential for wine tourism in the cellar and in the surrounding area.
The Winery Dominio de Punctumwas born five years ago as a project and has now been in the market for one year.
They expect to grow rapidly; bearing in mind their 500,000 bottles produced every year.
The Winery is located in Las Pedroñeras (Cuenca) and has 110 hectares of vineyards. Their philosophy is to produce organic wines through sustainable viticulture in order to offer quality products elaborated according to traditional production methods.
They produce distinctive red and white wines from Tempranillo,Graciano, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier grapes at 800 meters above sea level, on a sandy and limestone-rich soil.
Their main characteristics are the following:
- Permanent search of quality.
- Organic production in order to elaborate wines containing the essence of the region.
- Continuous efforts to innovate (i.e. application of biodynamic methods).
- Evaluation of natural resources (i.e. reuse of waste water).
- Commitment to sustainable agriculture and production with a very attractive good-value-for-money culture.
Jesús Fernández, Business Manager and Owner of the Winery, presenting his business at the Fair. Graciano Syrah (Dominio de Punctum) presenting his product.
I was at a table with some people who appeared to be interesting. And in fact they were! The whole meal was served with incredibly good red wines.
We were eating our dessert, and the wife of one of the winemakers passed me a glass of Moscatel.
It was delicious and matched perfectly with the dessert. I went to look for another bottle because I wanted another glass but no joy. I could only find empty bottles of the Moscatel in question, until at last I found one with just enough left for a glass.
Someone introduced me to the winemaker, Javier Pérez Fonseca, who convincingly explained to me why he decided to go for organic grape-growing. It was so interesting listening to him that I lost the chance to meet other people; but he was so passionate that I consider the time spent with him as time very well spent indeed.
What I did was to interview him the next day at his stand and he explained how he made his Azpea Dulce. Interesting fact: he only makes 4000 liters of this amazing wine (out of a total of 70,000 that he produces in the winery).
And this is what Javier told me about hisAzpea Dulce, late harvesting and botrytis:
The winery was founded in 2000, and there are 17.5 hectares of vineyards, planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Tempranillo, Garnacha (Grenache), Viura and Moscatel de Grano Menudo (Muscat Blanc à Petit Grains).
He makes 70,000 bottles and has modern technology for wine-making, and only a few oak barrels, though he hopes to acquire more in the future.
The winery (Bodegas Azpea) is located in Lumbier, on the banks of the River Salazar, about 30 km from Pamplona
Javier:
Like I said during the interview, I now have no choice but to go and visit your winery, especially after seeing the photos!
Presentation of the Eder red wine 2009 by Bodegas Escalera (Escalera Winery)
“We started focusing on our organic production because we did not like the aggressiveness with which crops were treated (herbicides, chemical products, etc.), and we thought that had to be a more natural and less environmentally aggressive way to handle agriculture. In fact, more than 400 chemical products of the 600 currently used in agriculture will be forbidden in Europe in the following five years”.
In 2001, Joseba Landíbar and Isidro Escalera inaugurated their winery in Beire, close to Olite (Navarre), although their families have been growing wine grapes since the XIXth century
Joseba presenting (in Spanish) the Eder Red Wine 2009 at the First International Organic Wine Fair, held in Spain.
Posted by igsegma | Tasting | Posted on April 13th, 2010
Last Wednesday 7th April I was at the first stop of the Catavino.es wine-tasting tour. This is a project aimed at connecting the world of wine and the world of bloggers, via wine-tasting encounters in several different D.O.’s around Spain. The idea is that on the one side are the wineries who present their wines (along with tasting notes and info on the winery), and on the other side are the bloggers, eager for information and for direct contact with the winemakers, who get to taste the wines in a relaxed and intimate setting. The wineries begin to understand the role and impact of bloggers, and the bloggers get first-hand information from the wineries.
This event took place in the “Bodega Redonda de Utiel”, the home of the Consejo Regulador de Utiel-Requena, an ideal setting for this type of event.
There were 17 wineries and 15 bloggers who tasted the wines and spoke with the winemakers. It was very evident that many wineries still don’t completely understand the power of social media, but who were aware that a new channel of communication now exists and which is worth exploring, and that it is important that their wines, and their characteristics, and the wineries themselves have more visibility.
Congratulations to catavino.net and to Juan Manuel Gonzalvo for the initiative, and to the Consejo Regulador de Utiel Requena, for providing their installations and encouraging the wineries to participate, and of course to the actual wineries for deciding to give social media a chance.
I wholeheartedly believe in the possibilities of communication via Internet, but a big part of its power lies in the complementary aspect of its use with regard to personal presence for the transmission of information, ideas and concepts. Your physical presence hasn’t lost any power, just because of the appearance of virtual presence. They are complementary, and because of this a winery can outreach much further.
The next stop on the tour is Ribera del Duero. Best of luck.
I’ have visited the fair that wines of “La Mancha” do every year when they want to show their new wines. They do it in the gardens of Atocha Station which is a wonderful place to make this kind of event.
