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Spanish Learning Center
Ribera Del Duero
(ree-BEHR-ah del-DWAY-roh)
Location: On the Duero River between Madrid (80 miles North) and the Atlantic Ocean
Acres: 47,000 (much smaller then Rioja)
The Soil: Silt and clay. Also limestone is found in the area and the geography is gentle undulating terrain.
The Grape Varieties:
The Main One: Tinto Fino or Tinta del Pais (Tempranillo) 90% plus
Tinto Fino is related directly to Tempranillo and like all grape varieties you get genetic mutations or people who clone them
Others: Garnacha, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot and the white grape Albillo
Wine Flavors
Flavors of these wines are licorice, leather, mocha, plum, prune, mineral, espresso, floral, dark berry, coffee
Facts:
-A region within the Castile and Leon (largest region in Spain) community
-The Duero River runs through the region and into Portugal
-A lot of climatic changes occur throughout the year
-Reds dominate the region
-Vega Sicilia Spain’s top winery and Unico is the top wine
-Not the history that Rioja has but equal quality
-Vines are between 30 and 50 years old
-Labeled as a DO region and awarded this in 1982
-1980s quality got serious
-Wines are made up of Tinto Fino- A variation of Tempranillo and minor amounts of Garnacha and Cabernet Sauvignon
-This is a more intense version then Rioja
-Over 250 wineries
Food: Lamb, wild game, hearty soups, and mushrooms
Top 2 wineries
Vega-Sicilia and Alejandro Fernandez Tinto Pesquera
-Vega-Sicilia makes the following wines: Valbuena 5, Unico and a rare Reserva Especial
Alejandro Fernandez created the Pesquera wines and they were released in the 1980s
The Other Producers
Emilio Moro, Dominio de Pingus, Mauro, Perez Pascuas, Alion, Aalto, Alonso del Yerro Maria, Finca Villacreces Nebro
Terms:
Bodega- winery, wine cellar, wine storage area
Tinto Fino- Genetic variation of Tempranillo
Añada-Vintage
Assemblage- Cuvée
Barrique- Barrel
Blanco- Spanish for white (vino blanco)
Bodega- Wine cellar
Cosecha- Vintage
Crianza- Total stored 24 months, al least 6 months in oak
D.O- DENOMINACIÓN DE ORIGEN
D.O.Ca.- DENOMINACIÓN DE ORIGEN CALIFICADA (Rioja and Priorat)
Gran Reserva- Total stored 60 months, al least 24 months in oak
Reserva- Total stored 36 months, al least 12 months in oak
Tinto-Red wine
Viña- Vineyard
Vino- Wine
Grape Radio Show on Vega Sicilia
Websites:
Bibliography
MacNeil, K. The Wine Bible (1st edn, New York 2001).
Radford, J., The New Spain (2nd edn, London, 2004).
www.vega-sicilia.com/