Ribera del Duero, part 1 ~ Abadia Retuerta

Wine has been made in the area since the Roman era, but it only became widespread with the arrival of monasteries. Although producers like Vega Sicilia have been making world-class wine here for more than a century, the region's true winemaking boom did not come until the late 20th century.  Ribera del Duero is a most unlikely great wine area. Bud break for vines is the latest in Europe.  Laid out on a sprawling plateau along the banks of the Duero River, 120 km north of Madrid, Ribera del Duero is a land of extremes, a bleak landscape of flat-topped rocky heights on the northern plateau of Spain, with an average altitude of 700-800 meters.  Frosts in May are a constant danger, while September frosts are less common but still hazardous.  The growing season is short and intense.  Biting winters, sun-bleached summers and high altitudes work hand-in-hand with clay, silt and limestone soils to create the ideal conditions for Tinto Fino, the local name for the Tempranillo grape, which makes up 95 percent of wine production.  The heart of the Ribera del Duero is the Milla de Oro, or Golden Mile, a short strip of land hugging the Duero River.  The Milla de Oro looks no different than the countless rows of vineyards cutting across the landscape nearby, but this is the home of iconic wineries like Vega Sicilia, Abadia Retuerta and Mauro.  The area owes everything to the vision of one man, Eloy Lecanda y Chaves.  In 1864 Lecanda inherited a property, now called Vega Sicilia, on the banks of the Duero and set about transforming a few hundred hectares of pine forest and scrubby fields into a model agricultural estate.  Eloy Lecanda was a visionary rather than an astute businessman; he went bust.  The estate saved by the Herrero brothers, a decade or two later began producing wines of astonishing heady perfume, depth and longevity. These Vega Sicilia Únicos, aged for up to a decade in a strange assortment of barrels, were not sold through the usual commercial channels but given as gifts to friends of the well-connected new owners. They acquired legendary status.  Unfortunately we are not going there but to Abadia Retuerta.

The Abbey

300mm rain?  It must have all come today!  

In 1982 there were only 14 estates in Ribera del Duero; now there are more than 300, among them, Abadia Retuerta, a unique contrast of old and new.  Located in Sardón del Duero with a modern cellar, and an incredible 12th century Romanesque monastery on the property, wines are tasted in the centuries old, high vaulted monk’s dining quarters. The monastery, originally founded in 1145, by the aristocratic Doña Mayor, who was the very wealthy daughter of Count Ansúrez, Lord of Valladolid.  The Abbey was one of many monastery-fortresses built during the Christian re-conquest in the region of Castile.  The family of Ansúrez left terras et vineas to the French-based order of St. Norbert which was the beginning of this estate’s history of producing wine.  Fast forward to the 21st century the winery, now owned by the Swiss company Novartis who have restored the monastery as a luxury hotel, is making incredible wines.  The estate covers 710 ha, of which 210 ha are planted to vineyards.  Elevation ranges from 640 m near the Duero to an elevation of roughly 780 m.  Alternating layers of limestone, marl and chalk under silt and clay topsoil add complexity and character to Ribera del Duero wines.  The extreme continental climate is semi-desert with hot summers and cold winters.  Rainfall averages 300 mm to 450 mm.  Abadía Retuerta’s wines are all produced under the Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y León appellation.  Being outside of the DO Ribera del Duero allows them to use drip irrigation when needed.  The winery is conceived around a gravity flow system (some heavy lifting required) and features an aging cellar of 5,000-barrel capacity cut into the adjacent mountainside.  When grapes enter the winery they are dumped into a stainless hopper that is then lifted by an overhead crane and deposited into one of 80 stainless fermentation vats. 

Cranes do the initial heavy lifting then its gravity's job.

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