One of the historical ways of distinguishing the quality of great wines is the recognition of their exceptional estates. In Catalonia, these exceptional estates and their wines are recognized with the Vi de Finca category, currently with 14 officially recognized wines.
In Rioja they are distinguished as Singular Vineyards, currently with 133 vineyards that hold this category.
The DO Cava has also established the category of Cava de Paraje Calificado, with a dozen officially recognized cavas.
In other cases, they are associations, such as Grandes Pagos de España, founded in 2004, which currently groups around thirty wineries.
And many wineries informally use expressions that emphasize that their wines come from exceptional estates, such as estate wine, parcel wine or single vineyard, the most internationally known expression.
Do not miss these unique bottles that are included in The Wine Guide 2023, directed by Lluís Tolosa with the collaboration of Ferran Centelles, Meritxell Falgueras, María José Huertas, Alicia Estrada and Zoltan Nagy.
Bodegas El Paraguas is a project that was born in 2011 by the professional duo made up of Felicísimo Pereira and Marcial Pita. Two souls who have decided to unite to recreate a world of fascinating finesse. Felicísimo Pereira is possibly the best connoisseur of the enormous wine heritage hidden in the Ribeiro area. He is heir to a vast winemaking tradition. Marcial Pita has been linked to the world of wine since he was 16 years old. He began to collaborate in the warehouse of the Vinoselección wine club, preparing orders. To this day, he stands as one of the most determining figures of the new Galician wine.
Fai un Sol del Carallo was born from a 1.4-hectare estate of an exceptional vineyard planted in 1892 in Ribadavia (Ourense). It is a wine conceived with the triumvirate of the great native Galician grapes: treixadura, godello and albariño. It is made from a selection of bunches from smallholding vines located on terraces that are difficult to work. The three varieties together achieve one of their highest levels of harmony and charm, on the wide terraces of their highest levels of harmony and charm, on the wide terraces
It is a fat white wine, of tangible complexity, brimming with strength and elegance. Citrus, refreshing and mineral on the palate. It evokes the best character of Galicia, it is especially saline. The bad thing about this wine is that they only make a 600-liter French oak barrel, where it spends 12 months of aging, after which only 776 bottles are obtained. He who has a bottle in his fridge has a treasure! /Zoltan Nagy
If we were to compare a Master of Wine (MW) with something earthly, it would be a Nobel Prize, one of the seven wonders of the world or the Oscar for Best Picture. At the top of the pyramid of knowledge and erudition of the planet of wine are they. : the MW. Luxury is ours, as some have descended the steep stairs of the Egyptian monument to the ground to bequeath, in the form of wine, all their wisdom.
Norrel Robertson was the first MW to start making wine in Spain. Also known as El Escocés Volante, he was born in Scotland and became an MW in the year 2000. Shortly after, he settled in Calatayud, in a territory that became his favorite environment for making wine.
José Peñín, the greatest wine critic in Spain, stated 20 years ago that Calatayud would be the new revolution in the country. The wines of the Flying Scotsman are an example that he was not wrong.
Little more than one hectare of an exceptional vineyard, a place with a depth of two or three meters of boulder, unmatched in all of Calatayud and from which only 3,289 bottles come out. This unusual terrain, the science and sensitivity of Norrel Robertson make an exciting wine.
Floral, lots of concentrated fruit, violets. Beautiful on the nose. Liquid silk on the palate, fluid, with an extremely delicate tannin texture. A wine to be very proud of Garnacha. Without a doubt, it is worthy of a long walk on the red carpet. /Ferran Centelles
On one of my last visits to Rioja I fell in love with Lalomba, an underground temple. I lived the experience of visiting and stepping on something big. This unique personality project is one of the initiatives of the Zamora Company group. The environment is really exciting, the winery was built with great style and taste. The project works with three vineyards in three different areas, seeking to vindicate the purity of each one of these vineyards, calling them with the proper name of each place, in this case Finca Ladero.
Walking through the corridor of the concrete tanks where the wines ferment with Rosana Lisa, who leads all the winery's research projects, is a unique experience. She is the right hand of Rodolfo Bastida, technical director of the winery, two people who taught me to understand their visions through the wines. In every corner there is harmony, with different environments, conditioned with noble materials.
Finca Ladero is six hectares high, located in the heart of the Eastern Rioja, and gives rise to a sublime wine. The mixture of the two varieties, Tempranillo and Garnacha in their different proportions, spends 18 months in barrels and 26 months in concrete without reversing. The result reflects all the energy of the mountain, of the air of the mountains, of some vineyards on the slopes of Monte de Yerga, showing in each bottle the identity of this bright and elegant wine. Each sip is full of energy and strength, it is a stimulating wine in every way. I recommend taking the car and visiting them as soon as possible. I was there! /Zoltan Nagy
A wine that feels good, that tastes good, that is enigmatic. At a time when it has been shown that the one who shouts the most is not right, this wine offers a silence with a lot of meaning and a great gastronomic profile.
Its legendary vines planted in 1889 in the plot El Vinyet are living sculptures. A historic blend of varieties that recovers the traditional claret that the Orpella family drank. Made with 22 white, red and rosé varieties, among them found white, white garnacha, macabeo, xarello, white sumoll, pansa valenciana, red garnacha, pink picapoll, monastrell, mandó and others, some of them unknown.
The mixture of grapes gives it a claret color with some orange reflection, aromas of blueberries, wild strawberries, grapefruit, anise, chamomile and Mediterranean notes from its surroundings, such as thyme. On the back label it says it very clearly: it contains fauna, flora, earth and cosmos. Its pillars are the landscape of the Serra Llarga, the salinity and the mineral freshness.
Limited edition in the vineyard, only 207 bottles. Prepared by a woman who has worked in California, Terra Alta, Costers del Segre, Penedés, Somontano, Valle del Cinca and in the Monegros desert, Science is her training, but her vocation is agriculture. Pilar Salillas now produces in Alfarras (Segria), with ancestral agricultural practices and sensitive oenology with minimal intervention, with autochthonous, indigenous and wild yeasts. And it is so true that even the jar is made with its own clay. A wine that she leaves speechless. /Meritxell Falgueras
They say that the best gifts always come from the heart, they are not bought. This must have seemed the same to a young man from Villabuena de Álava who decided to seal his marriage commitment by planting a vineyard for his future wife. It was the thirties and it was his gift, a material and affective dowry that, like true love, grew as a result of respect and care.
A few months ago we were able to get to know and step on this vineyard. It was getting late. I have verified that when you wander in silence through a vineyard, the geography of the vineyard is always quietly loquacious: the noise fades and the sound of the wind begins to accompany you, the lamentation of your footsteps... That peaceful walk ended in the hermitage who presides over the vineyard, where they await the visitor, in the Virgen del Regalo, with an almost Eucharistic wine.
Yes, El Regalo is a unique farm but not only because of that universe of serenity that it transports to the passerby. It is part of a group of exceptional places for their qualities that in Rioja they call Singular Vineyards, and that beyond the traditional qualifications for aging (crianza, reserva and gran reserva), recognize the uniqueness of a vineyard and the processes of those who make it. takes care.
El Regalo is La Rioja until the bars, a fine and very elegant La Rioja. The result is an intensely ruby red, with dense tears; on the nose it offers aromas of ripe black fruit and good smoked, complex; On the palate it is velvety and friendly, with a long finish that fosters an intimate joy that invites the selfishness of not sharing./Alicia Estrada
Classic and elegant Gran Reserva. It is made exclusively with the oldest plots of the Pradolagar Estate and only in vintages that promise greater longevity.
Marqués de Vargas represents four generations of producers of great wines. Its origins date back to 1840, when D.
Felipe de la Mata, VII Marquis of Vargas, planted the first vines at the Pradolagar Hacienda. In 1989 they built the current winery on the outskirts of Logroño, on the Recta de los Tres Marqueses, where there are three well-known Rioja wineries founded by marquises. Today it is a solid project chaired by D.Pelayo de la Mata, XIII Marqués de Vargas and IX Count of San Cristóbal.
The lung is Varma, his family empire of global beverage distribution with brands such as Ron Barceló, Bollinger, Jack Daniel's, etc.
The vineyard surrounds the entire winery in the purest style of a Bordeaux chateau. There are 60 hectares divided into 32 small plots that are vinified separately in the winery designed by Michel Rolland. They look for the maximum expression and differentiation of each vineyard, and then the best final blend. Tempranillo is the backbone of La Rioja, Garnacha gives it fruitiness and Mazuelo gives it freshness. It exhibits the great fruit load of the 2015 harvest, one of the earliest in the history of Rioja. Black fruit, liquorice, spices, balsamic and silky tannins after aging for 24 months, 16 months in French oak and 8 months in American oak, with 36 months of refining in the bottle. Tim Atkin, Master of Wine, ranks it among the 15 best Rioja Grand Reserves. /Lluís Tolosa
Finca Espolla is one of my favorite Perelada wines. Many times it goes unnoticed between the success of Finca Malaveina and the greatness of Finca Garbet. But it seems to me a wine that expresses the concept of estate wine extraordinarily well, due to its location, its soils and its unique blend of Monastrell and Syrah, truly unique in the DO Emporda.
Finca Espolla is a 21-hectare vineyard located on the outskirts of the town of Espolla (Alt Emporda), in the heart of the Albera mountains, on the south face of the foothills of the Pyrenees. To the north there is only the Pertús pass, that wide mountainous border strip that separates the plains of Emporda and French Roussillon. Here the soils are of a characteristic black slate and the North Tramontana whips the vineyards with gusts of more than 100 km/h.
Finca Espolla also represents the constant work of creativity and innovation of Delfí Sanahuja. The 2005 vintage was born experimental, initially 100% monastrell, within her Ex Ex (Exceptional Experiences) collection. But it was soon consolidated with his first label as Finca Espolla, with the 2006 vintage, currently with a production of around 30,000 bottles a year.
The Monastrell and the Syrah add fruit upon fruit after their long macerations. The black slate floors reinforce the fresh, mineral and balsamic character. The 22-month aging in new French oak barrels and its refining in the bottle have just given it elegance, balance and harmony. Ideal to celebrate the centenary of Perelada (1923-2023). /Lluís Tolosa
