In April I spent a week traveling across Spain, visiting a number of wineries and sampling vastly different wines as I made my way from Galicia on the Atlantic coast to Tarragona on the Mediterranean.
The photo above was taken at Valdubon Winery in Milagro, part of the Ribera del Duero Denomination of Origin (DO). Winemaker Javier Aladro has been at Valdubon since 2004, five years after it was acquired by Freixenet and brought into the Ferrer Family Wines group (like all of the wineries I visited on my trip).
Valdubon uses mostly Tempranillo vines. The grapes are smaller than in nearby Rioja, the soil is drier and the altitude of 800m provides a 15-20 degree Celsius difference between daytime and nighttime highs. More than 50% of the hectares of vines managed by the winery are estate-grown.
The brand’s wines include Valdubon Tempranillo, Roble, Crianza, Reserva, X (10) and Honoris de Valdubon (aged in new casks for 24 months).
For more of my Trip Report from Spain, including notes from Madrid, Santiago de Compostela, Logrono, Priorat and Barcelona, read the July/Aug issue of Beverage Dynamics later this month.
Full Disclosure: Freixenet USA covered the expenses related to this trip, including lodging and transportation.
[…] Freixenet) held a press dinner in NYC and I was able to catch up with a number of the people who I met in Spain last year. Among those in attendance was Wine Development Director (and all-around Brand Ambassador) Will […]