Bodegas Valduero Ribera del Duero Reserva 2012

Notes from the Winemaker

Bodegas Valduero is a family-owned wine estate in the heart of the Ribera del Duero region of Spain. Production is – unsurprisingly given the appellation – focused on red wine made from the Tempranillo grape variety, known here as Tinto Fino.

The company was founded by Gregorio Garcia Álvarez in 1984 in the small town of Gumiel de Mercado in the province of Burgos. At that time there were only half a dozen bottling wineries in the region, which only received DO status in 1982. The business is currently run by two daughters of the founder.

There are 200 hectares (495 acres) of vigorously pruned low-yielding vineyards, situated around the winery, which was dug out of the hillside in 2000. It is lined with a thick concrete wall and covered with five meters of earth, thus achieving a steady 14° temperature without any power consumption. The wines are vinified in stainless steel tanks and matured in oak barrels in cellars which reach 20 meters underground.

The portfolio includes Ribera del Duero red wines at Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva levels, plus three deluxe bottling; the first to being the 100 percent Tinto Fino Una Cepa, and Reserva Premium 6 Años (three years ageing in barrel, then years in bottle).