On Wine: New wineries in Spain still have old roots
0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Feb 3, 2010 | by Laurie Daniel
Valladolid, Spain
ONE THING you can’t help noticing during a visit to Spain’s Ribera del Duero region is the tremendous amount of money that has poured into the area in recent years. The landscape is dotted with grand structures that more often than not house a winery. An estimated 80 percent of the area’s vineyards have been planted in the past 20 years.
Although much of the growth is relatively recent, this region’s winemaking dates back to Roman times. A lot of old cellars still are hidden underground, marked by small ground-level chimneys that provide ventilation. Vega Sicilia, with its rare and expensive wines, has been in business since 1864, but it wasn’t until the success of Alejandro Fernandez, who founded his estate in 1972, that the region began to gain momentum. Fernandez’s wine, Tinto Pesquera, became one of Ribera del Duero’s best-known bottlings. Fernandez and other producers gained official recognition for their appellation in 1982.
Ribera del Duero’s landscape appears flat to rolling, but it’s on a high plain and has the highest average elevation in Europe for growing red grapes, with vineyard altitudes that range from about 2,500 to 3,100 feet. Summer days are hot, but temperatures drop dramatically at night, and the growing season can be short
wood stove chimney
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