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 | Fairs | Posted on May 18th, 2010
Last week I went to the International Organic Wine Fair in Navarre, Spain (FIVE). It is not common that this type of initiatives are carried out at a global level, and especially, if they are not integrated in other fairs promoting organic products in general or wines alone.
The reasons why a fair like this had to be organized are easy to understand. On the one hand, the organic attitude is travelling around the planet. Without any doubt, we all have an organic attitude. We all know our children will not see many of the things we saw when we where kids. The climate change process is irreversible, and the only thing we can do is trying to reduce it. However, the priority given to this issue is yet another aspect to be tackled. On the other hand, organic Wineries wished to be differentiated from the rest of Wineries ellaborating with conventional methods.
Figures about the growing interest in the ellaboration of ecological wine is evident. The cultivated surface and the amount of Wineries betting on ecological wine are continuously growing, both in the World and in Spain. Oddly enough, the demand at the national market does not seem to grow at the same pace. This makes organic wineries put all their hopesin the international market.
In Pamplona, all 52 wineries present at the fair had the opportunity to show their products as a wide representation of the sector’s production to the most curious visitors –most of them specialized in organic wine.
My first feeling pushes me to express general satisfaction –both because of the stands and of the visitors. The analysis each one of us will make in the short or medium term from the results perceived will determine whether the Fair will be more or less successful in coming editions. In any case, I have the feeling that the next edition will have more visitors and stands.
I would like to congratulateFIVE organizers –a team led by Ignacio Bidegain, and including Sandra Beltrán among others– on the fantastic results. It did not seem at all it was the very first edition of the Fair.
I would also like to congratulate the (Organic Agriculture Association of Navarre) (AEN) –led by Edorta Lezaun– on the initiative that set in motion this important event.
Congratulations to the sponsors (The Government of Navarre, and D.O. Navarre, among others). Initiatives like this will help us to get out from this crisis.
There will be 52 wineries from Spain, Portugal and France, and representatives of 27 DOs (Denominación de Origen) and 13 Regional Governments (Comunidades Autónomas)
Organic wine production, organic consumption and the number of organic wineries are actually increasing despite the economic crisis in which we are immersed.
The goal of the fair is to promote organic wines in the international market, and reaches out to producers, distributors, retailers, and hotel and restaurant managers. Importers from 17 countries have confirmed their attendance, including from Japan, Germany and the United States (the major markets of organic wine) .
I’ve split the video into 4 sections to make it easier to follow:
First: An introduction by Edorta Lezaun(from “Lezaun” organic Winery)
Second: Ignacio Bidegain(General Coordinator of the FIVE)
Third: Salvador Eraso Stephens (Navarre regional Govt. Spokesman)
Lastly: Questions and answers
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For more detailed information, check out the website created for this purpose: www.five-bio.com
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.
Then we took a walk through the village, we visited the art shop that Bodegas Mento has in town, and later we went to dinner at the facilities that la Asociación Cultural los Aguilas have in town.
They showed to us the building of La Asociación. And then they invited us to dinner.
I note several points:
1) The involvement of all the wineries in sponsoring the event. All of them showed that they feel committed to the events taking place in their town.
2) The know-how of the wine makers zone. It was a great pleasure to be tasting their wines being intermingled with them in a village atmosphere. Each one of them counting the problems and the peculiarities of its own wine, and everything in Tudela de Duero´s main place, just in front of a very nice and old church.
3) They know how to have fun in Tudela. What guys! There were kids and very elderly people with something in common. Fun.
4) How tremendously welcoming are in Tudela de Duero. We could see it directly.
5) The personality of Tudela wines. A very strong personality. Once you taste them, you never forget them.
6) The magnificent facilities that la Asociación Cultural los Aguilas have in Tudela.
I am all the time saying, that knowing is the way to loving. The Tudela wineries know about it. And there were there, inviting to taste their best wines.
It was a pity I has to go to sleep that night before the feast ended, because I had to leave early in the morning (they were making quite an spectacular and noisy feast).
Thank you very much to everybody. And mainly to Bodegas Mento. Because of them we spent in Tudela a very, very nice time.
