Only Red Wines

Barón d’Alba Wineries and Vineyards opened for business by planting 15 hectares of vineyards of Macabeo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Garnacha, Merlot, Monastrell, Syrah and Tempranillo, with the idea of obtaining from them the highest expression of quality and not of quantity. As they were familiar with the exceptional quality of Les Useres area grapes, they decided to build a winery in their own vineyard. This was an idyllic spot called CLOS D’ ESGARRACORDES from which you can see an extraordinary outlook of vineyards and a wide area of the region. 

For this project we joined a group of professionals, who were involved in obtaining the best quality for our wines, sparing no effort and make sure that the whole process, involved in getting a great wine from the vineyard to the consumer, was achieved.

This is an exceptional vineyard of 15 hectares, located in L’Alcalaten which is the lowest part of the Les Useres district. It lies at an altitude of 200 meters and enjoys a suitable microclimate for the production of high quality wines. The vineyard is planted by the street system, on trellis with a double Royat cordon. We use a planting density of 2600 vines per hectare and with a per plant production limited to a maximum of 1.5 to 1.75 kg per vine, depending on variety, making a closely monitoring of the growth cycle of the vine in order to obtain a high quality fruit.

The ground is loamy with clay, as well as both sandy and rocky, with high calcium content. Therefore, we have a vineyard with the two main features associated with the quality of the renowned wine regions: stony and limestone lands.

From the standpoint of climate, this area is located a few kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea, but has a moderate influence, thereof to be protected by the mountains that divide it. Rainfall is approximately 450 litres per year, vineyard orientation, hours of sun and humidity are ideal for obtaining the best quality. This combination of factors which is difficult to find, explains the proven quality, harvest to harvest, of wines from our harvest.

The exterior of the winery is a fine stone building, that gives it personality. Unique for its murals with pictorial representations dedicated to the vintage. It is beautiful, as well as having stucco walls throughout the interior of the winery. It is equipped with processing deposits with up to 10,000 litres capacity each, equivalent to 8,200 kilograms of grapes. All are equipped with modern cooling system to control the fermentation temperatures, allowing us to heat or cool warehouses in a much shorter time and to exercise a perfect control over the fermentation.

The warehouse is composed of:
- 1 tank of 15,000 liters.
- 3 fermentation tanks of 10,000 litres of stainless steel.
- 3 fermentation tanks of 5,000 litres.
- 4 fermentation tanks of 3,000 litres.
- 1 cask of 6,000 litres oak.
Besides, there we can find devatting and peak tanks with a capacity of 72,000 litres.

The barrel room is excavated below ground and it is equipped with an air conditioning system that allows not only ventilating the warehouse, but also allows controlling the temperature and moisture at desired levels.
The arches that support the barrel room together with careful lighting create a unique atmosphere, where lie French oak barrels for aging wine.

It is equipped with the same air-conditioning as the barrel room. It has a capacity of 70 crates of bottles. In this warehouse the wine completes his ripening process fully before its release.

Fermentation takes place at a controlled temperature and long maceration, applying cutting-edge winemaking techniques.The malolactic fermentation takes place in oak tubs, prior to its aging in French and American oak barrels.The barrel ageing room it is perfect for ventilation, humidity and temperature, where the wine remains in barrels until its optimal stage of ripening, being not less than 14 months.

Once the blending of our wines is fulfilled, it is bottled, where it will continue with its ripening in a bottle for a minimum of eight months. This is in order to guarantee the consumer a wine in which we have placed the utmost care, at all stages, in order to obtain a wine of great quality.

Bodegas y Viñedos Barón d'Alba S.L.
Clos d'Esgarracordes, partida Vilar la Call 10
12118 Les Useres (Castellón) España

+ 34 964 767 306 - +34 608 032 884 - info@barondalba.com

Thinking ahead and adhering to the D.O. Manchuela Señorío de Monterruíz thought to develop one of the most difficult wines that entails for its variety, Bobal. So selecting the best Bobal old vines, with lots of foot free standing and some American, looking for the best 'terroir' with the most sunlight during the summer, and clay loam soils with a layer of pebbles is very characteristic of the area, decided to work this variety.

Finally came the day I could arrange to visit Chozas Carrascal, after that the dates coincide, it was worth visiting this beautiful place and avant-garde as he has shown us our host, Julian Lopez.
 

The visit began by exploring the surrounding area of the house, Alex has been with us a summiller of Barcelona who was visiting and was as surprised as us, while we waited in the cool porch, I watched the beautiful garden Mediterranean and garden variety of strains that are on the outside, which are a sampling of innovative varieties planted in this area producing wines from the cellar. The pool looked inviting us to swim, but we began the visit and have not felt the heat of the morning.

Upon entering the house we found the right taste and decor into the hall and the large living room with a table of spectacular dimensions as well as its thickness and is made of the same trunk in one piece. From there we have come to visit the rest of the cave, going through what we then delight as tasting room.

The rest of the winery is built with concrete blocks designed, painted its walls, giving it a really welcoming and does not denote the sobriety that we can transmit this material. We visited the store of products made and aged in bottle, then go to the fermentation room and elaborations. 

We have also seen the two lines of bottled wine and cava, and later move to the aging room of cava, watching the bottles and resting horizontal flip machines and some cages with bottles. From there we moved to the wine aging room, with about 200 barrels of 225 liters., all French oak, through which pass the winery sells wines matured or aged in wood. We also visited some ancient deposits that the house had once and serve as a aging room of the winery produces wines to study its evolution.

The visit has brought us to the tasting room and wine exhibition where Julian has surprised us a wonderful beginning to taste the cava, Chardonnay and Macabeo, discreet aroma with tropical fruit on the nose, the mouth we felt rich and volume, a cava-to-eat meats including elaborate.

White wine Las Tres were as follows, made with Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Macabeo and two varieties fermented in barrel, in principle, has served quite cold, I guess about 6 °, approximately, which is felt as a syrup peach, oily and rich, while subtle and fresh on the palate and has changed then in the cup, after having changed the temperature as we exchanged views on it. The change has stepped up its aromas and flavors with more structure in the mouth and turning to remember more aromatic citrus and white flowers with a light vanilla aftertaste.

The Cabernet Franc is the red varietal in the cellar, which has evoked more feelings. A wine very mineral, powerful fruit with a bang on the nose and very soothing, a different wine from a variety almost unknown in these zone, giving them a real treat for the senses and is highly recommended to look good with your guests an elegant wine that does not displease the most discerning palates. 

Finally we tasted a sweet wine Moscatel de Grano Menudo, which is made in France, where the family also has a winery, and also is a cheerful and pleasant elixir reminiscent of freshly peeled citrus fruits such as tangerines. 

Following my tour of the Utiel-Requena region this time played visiting a cooperative, in this case we move to the village of Las Cuevas, about 7 km. Utiel, where we hoped Beatriz Requena, our host, who accompanied us and showed how to live the wine in this area. 

La Cooperativa Virgen de Loreto, Covilor, dates from 1955 and has about 500 members, the cooperative was a pioneer in the area include stainless steel tanks and modern winemaking equipment, as we know it today, during the 60s. The building is of face brick and amenities include concrete tanks and still retain and use the 'trulli' or underground reservoirs to produce wine. 

Adjacent to the winery and in a wide area, are the farms and plots, the different partners that belong to the cooperative, cultivated grape varieties that give the wine, dominate over the range 70% Bobal, queen and mistress of these parts, and which provides the highest level of splendor once the harvest begins in late August and September. 

The area where fields are located chalky-clay land and are situated in a vast plain within the Utiel flat, bordering Camporrobles, Sinarcas and Utiel, and tucked into the northeast by the Sierra del Negrete and southwest on Bicuerca saw. The land lies inside a large bag of groundwater, which has been used to dig wells and take water for use in the vineyard in the hot summers of the site. 

We were visiting a vineyard foot plots near the cellar with Cabernet Sauvignon, Macabeo, Tempranillo and Bobal lot. These varieties are planted in glass, the oldest that some are over 60 years and the most modern trellis in time, the grape harvest is done by hand or machine depending on the parcel and if the owner has it or not. 

In the field engineers work and advise the owners to prepare the stocks and the health status of the grape harvest and distribution of it is controlled. Each collection is sent to the Cooperative, the hub of the area, which is downloaded classified for fermentation in the vats and 'trulli'. 

In Covilor produce about 3 million liters of wine, all are intended mostly in bulk so that the amount of bottled or 'bag in box' that the winery produces is for members and for sale in the area. We had the opportunity to taste two wines (although we have some more to enjoy at home and with friends), a 100% Macabeo white and a 'blend' of Bobal, Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon with 12 months in the barrel. 

The Alto Cuevas 2009 blanco, made with a 100% Macabeo is a greenish-yellow wine, bright, fresh and fruity, with a touch of natural carbonic fermentation itself, very easy to drink and appropriate for this summer we entered. The red, Alto Cuevas Crianza 2007, is a cherry red wine, well structured, with aromas of vanilla and ripe black fruit, sweet tannin, very pleasant to the palate, aged in French oak and American freshmen, and an extraordinary value for money. 

The rest of the range wines Alto Cuevas also accompany all tastes, so we have a rosé Bobal is spectacular, very fruity and reminiscent of ripe strawberries all with a touch of acidity balanced and highly recommended to accompany rice and pasta . The young red Tempranillo is light enough, yet tannic, a daily wine aromas remind us of wild fruit. 

At high expression wines I recommend 100% Bobal Sucession range, marketing the hold a reserve aged for two years in French oak barrels, a powerful wine of broad tannins, great structure and color, especially red to accompany stews prepared meals A treat for the taste of the variety Bobal has evolved dramatically in the development of this cooperative and enjoy the occasion as noteworthy. 

The visit ended with lunch in the restaurant Genaro, in the town of Fuenterrobles near Las Cuevas de Utiel with a special gourmet menu, well presented and delicious, highly recommended if you go to visit the wineries of the region of Utiel- Requena.

The visit last Saturday, which I mentioned in the previous post was in Requena, had a second winery to go, just opposite the location of the former, and in the village of El Derramador, it is Vegalfaro Winery, a winery more modern, established in early 1980 and coming from a family that devoted their efforts to the farming world.

This family decided to convert their crops and winemakers from the crowd of studying the 'terroir' and seeking ways of producing high quality wines. This will seek the best parcels of their property and planted the best species, looking for the 'clonning' which best suit the environment and conditions of each of their lands. The concept of 'Vino de Pago' and 'Vino de Finca' was coined in the development of these by their owners.


 
Vegalfaro aims to develop the wine directly in the field, studying, controlling and improving all aspects of the physiology of the plant, so that gives the best grapes on the vine sensory capacity, it helps the process is solely to produce what the earth provides and prevents subsequent corrections fermented mash.

All in a perfect state of cleanliness and well-differentiated each process and place of the winery to produce wines and cava that today are achieving higher scores quota competitions and tastings where they occur.

The wines we could not taste in the warehouse, but kindly gave us a couple of bottles, Vegalfaro Crianza 2006 (Tempranillo, Merlot and Syrah) and Pasamonte Blanco 2008 (Chardonnay and 15% white Grenache), the latter belonging to the DO Valencia by the location of the property. Other wines as Pago de los Balagueses Merlot and Vegalfaro Cosecha 2009 had already tried it at home accompanied by friends and we were excellent, with a personality that reminded us of wines of high expression of northwest Spain.