Wine trip to Ribera del Duero by Chalfont & Amersham Wine Club

In June 2006 we organised our second wine tasting trip abroad in conjunction with the company Wine Pleasures. This time we visited the prestigious area of Ribera del Duero in Spain.

Over the course of the three days we visited five vineyards including Pesquera, one of the most famous wines of the area. Here’s what we got up to!

Another early start but hey ho! If you want to do all that wine tasting in three days you have to pay the price somewhere!

Our first stop was the charming town of Roa where we settled down to a wonderful lunch in the Mesón Virgen de la Vega. The wine flowed, the food was plentiful and we soon forgot how tired we were.

To finish up we had to choose whether the wine was disappointing, poor, good or excellent. There was also a fifth option “pleasant” which we were banned from using!

This approach to wine tasting makes you really think about what you’re tasting and it’s good to discuss the wines together but… give me a plate of Tuscan fayre and a table in the sunshine anytime!

We then headed for our hotel in Ampudia. We stayed at the Casa del Abad, a 17th century building which, in its day, was the house of the Abbot of the Abbey of St Miguel de Ampudia. Due to a protection order the house has retained practically all of its original features. Built in the wine cellar of the old house, the hotel offers a magnificent restaurant.

The food is haute cuisine to say the least and the wine list was very impressive. A large screw press dominates the room, just to remind you that you are in wine country! We had a fabulous meal together and those with staying power drifted into the bar.

In contrast with the very laid back approach to wine tasting in Tuscany, we were given tasting note booklets by our guide Anthony Swift of Wine Pleasures. We were encouraged to fill in detailed information on each wine in order to analyse it properly, which we then discussed within the group.

Besides filling in the usual (grape variety, colour, aroma, ageing info, price, vintage, alcohol…..) we then filled in the taste analysis on a “tasting star”. This was rather like looking at a bicycle wheel with each spoke representing a different factor e.g. oak, finish, tannins, acid, complexity…..You then plotted your results along each spoke, the nearer the centre of the wheel the “lower” the particular taste factor. By joining the dots you could then get a pictorial snapshot of that wine’s taste analysis to compare against the other wines.

Fully sated, our next stop was the Bodega Viña Vilano in Pedrosa de Duero. They have 850 hectares under vine and 30% of their wine is exported to 20 countries. Serafin and Desidrio gave us a tour of the winery and then took us to their tasting room to taste the wines. We tasted their Rosado 2005, Roble 2004, Crianza 2003 and their Reserva 2001. Over 100,000 bottles of each wine is produced except for the Reserva (25,000).

Alas the time had come to climb aboard the coach and head for the airport.

Another successful trip for CAWC, only one question remains - Where will we be going next year?

Julia Belton

We then transferred to Cigales for a tasting at Bodegas Frutos Villar. Jose Luis Villar gave us a tasting of their wines (about six, I seem to remember!) which interestingly included some white wine and a rose (some of us were slightly bored of robust red tempranillos by now!).

The wines came from Ribera del Duero, Toro, Cigales and Rueda. The piece de resistance, however, was lunch which was served in one of the underground caves typical of the area. After the usual cured meats (including horse!), we were then treated to roast suckling pig cut up in the traditional way of smashing it lengthways and across with a plate. Poor little piggy! Oh well, when in Spain…

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Peñafiel and then there was a short time for a rest before dinner at the hotel again.

Our last day! After checking out of the hotel we made our way to San Bernado de Valbuena where we visited the Bodegas Matarromera. This is a brand new winery built on a massive scale and houses a museum dedicated to winemaking in the Ribera del Duero.

We tasted their wines in the brand new, all-singing, all-dancing tasting room. The wines we tasted included Matorramera Crianza from Ribera del Duero, Valdelosfrailes from Cigales and Emina Atio from Ribera del Duero, which is its ‘flagship’ wine. The last is made from grapes of 25- to 30-year old Tempranillo vines and aged in new French oak for 16 months: the 2003 was the first vintage and the wine will only be made in the best years. Atio is in the tradition of ‘blockbusting’ reds from Ribera del Duero and yet it has a real delicacy provided by all that time in Alliers oak: fresh and robust with high fruit and an excellent finish.

Afterwards, we went to their tasting room where we sampled their Tinto Joven 2005, their Tinto Roble 2004 and their Crianza 2003. We then had a typical Asado lunch, starting with cold meats and then onto roast suckling lamb and dessert. The wines we had tasted were served again with lunch giving us the opportunity to try them with food. A truly gastronomic feast. After lunch we had a quick tour of the winery before heading back to the hotel.

We then transferred to Boada de Roa to visit Bodegas Viyuela. We were shown around by their lady winemaker, Sandra Ayuso, and our first stop was the vineyards or the underground cellars to be precise. These exist deep beneath the ground and are owned by different families. Not used anymore, the majority have been converted into places to escape the heat of the summer sun and families often picnic down there. Some even have the old screw presses on show.

Some vines grow on gravel terraces and others on high tablelands (like the “Llano Santiago” vineyard at over 1,000 metres above sea level). All of them provide their nuances to the renowned Pesquera red wines. All the vineyards are planted with Tempranillo vines, the “queen of grapes”. We tasted the Janus Gran Reserva 1995 (18,000 bottles are produced) and the Alenza 1995 (which I rated excellent). Only 20,000 bottles of this are produced.

After breakfast we headed off to Pesquera de Duero to visit the famous estate of Pesquera. A member of the family, Lucia, gave us a tour of the winery.

We were then invited to taste their wines and watch a video about the estate.

More than 200 hectares of beautiful vineyards today supply the winery.