LLOPART CAVA (D. O. CAVA)

Llopart Cellars are a prime example of how over centuries of continuous labour by successive generations rooted to the same soil, along with the accumulation of knowledge and experience, routine work has become a lovingly preserved art. A document written in Latin and dated in the year 1385 shows that Bernardus LEOPARDI, ancestor of the Llopart family, received the rights to vineyards situated on the current estate of Can Llopart de Subirats.

This centuries-old dedication to the cultivation of the vine and the elaboration and ageing of wines culminated in 1887 with elaboration of the first bottle of CAVA LLOPART.

The label shows a singular engraving – which also appeared on the first bottle – of a panorama of the manor house, the vineyards and surrounding property located in an especially privileged area of the county, Penedès.

The Llopart family has always distinguished itself by maintaining an optimum balance between the incorporation of modern winemaking technology and the most profound respect for ancestral winemaking traditions.

 

 

 CASTELL D´AGE (D. O. PENEDÈS Y D. O. CAVA)

Castell d'Age es una heredad vitivinícola de carácter familiar establecida en La Beguda Baixa, en el corazón del Alt Penedés. Su vocación en el cultivo de diversos viñedos impulsó a que en 1979 se replantara en la finca de Can Pere Valls un clon de cabernet sauvignon procedente de la Universidad de Davis (California), siendo este uno de los viñedos pioneros de cabernet sauvignon en el Penedés.

Desde entonces, Castell d'Age siguió la cultura vinícola mediterránea, sana y rica en contrastes, buscando siempre los elementos de integración más significativos, apoyándose en una sola y sencilla reflexión: el vino nace de la vid, el agua, la tierra... en un entorno climático que favorezca su maduración.

Hoy, Castell d'Age es ya una realidad que interpreta el reto personal creado por Anne Marie Comtesse. Su innata sensibilidad y su peculiar visión de futuro hace que, cosecha tras cosecha, los vinos de Castell d'Age participen de esa secreta complicidad entre la ciencia y el placer.

Es por ello que esta bodega se marcó una filosofía propia de actuación: concebir y personalizar sus vinos desde el viñedo, cuyo proceso de elaboración empieza con el primer día del calendario agrícola. Fueron precisos años de investigación para localizar las zonas más adecuadas para el desarrollo de cada una de las variedades viníferas seleccionadas por Castell d'Age. En definitiva, es una manera de actuar que ejemplariza por sí sola la filosofía y el compromiso de calidad de Castell d'Age con sus vinos.

La bodega está ubicada en una reformada casa solariega del siglo XVIII, típica masía del Penedés, que ha seguido un proceso de renovación y transformación constante desde sus inicios, con el fin de elaborar y criar sus mejores vinos en la propia finca.

Combinando la mejor tradición con la necesaria modernidad de sus instalaciones, la nueva trayectoria de Castell d'Age se antepone a la inercia tradicional del Penedés, aplicando racionalmente una filosofía encaminada a la elaboración especializada de vinos tintos de crianza y reservas, por lo que actualmente dispone de un parque dinámico de 350 barricas seleccionadas de roble francés y americano, con una reposición anual del 20%.

 

 

 BODEGAS ARAGONESAS (D. O. CAMPO DE BORJA)

The success of their wines is not coincidence. The restructuralisation and, in many cases, the preservation of their best vinyards allows them to produce some of the best garnacha wines on the market. Their close control of growth, health and the harvest calender guarantees them the quality of the grape and its collection in the exact moment of maturity.

If the work of the oenologists and technicians is praise-worthy, that of the viticulturalists is equally so. Hundreds of people every day rigorously employ the special care that is required in order to extract the very best from the soil of their vinyards.

But, with all this, their primary asset continues to be the vinyards and, in a special sense, their garnacha grapes, possibly unique on a world scale in terms of the antiquity and quantity of the vines.

 

 

 ASENSIO VIÑEDOS Y BODEGAS (D. O. NAVARRA)

Located in Sesma (Navarra), the family own state Asensio is dedicated to make quality red wines from their own vineyards.

Cellar created in 1994 and the winery was created in 1999.

They have 72 Ha. of vineyards with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot y Tempranillo.

After ageing in French and American oak barrels, all wines will are between two and five years on bottle and cellar.

 

 BODEGAS Y VIÑEDOS ZUAZO GASTÓN (D.O. RIOJA - Rioja Alavesa)

En la Rioja Alavesa, el apego a la tierra sigue siendo uno de sus grandes orgullos. Tierras, viñas, herencias que perduran de generación en generación y que entregan un precioso fruto que abuelos, padres e hijos han preparado y cuidado hasta su fin: el vino. Vino que parece, por su excepcional calidad, una elaboración esmerada con la tecnología más avanzada, pero con los ojos vueltos hacia la sabiduría popular de cientos de años.

Sus vinos se obtienen por despalillado y, tras un tiempo en depósito (donde se realiza la fermentación a temperatura controlada), se filtra y se selecciona por cualidades, de donde pasará a botella o a la fase de crianza.

Todos sus vinos se obtienen de las 50 hectáreas propias que la familia posee en la zona de Oyón. Viñedos de diferentes edades donde Graciano, Mazuelo y sobretodo Tempranillo son variedades dominantes. El rendimiento de sus plantaciones es de 400 Kg por hectárea, ya que les permite un control de la calidad de la uva antes y después de la vendimia.

 

 

 COOPERATIVA VIRGEN DEL CASTILLO (D. O. PRIEGO DE CÓRDOBA)

La cooperativa Virgen del Castillo, situada en la localidad de Carcabuey (Córdoba), es una empresa con casi medio siglo (fundada en el año 1953) de experiencia en la elaboración y comercialización del aceite de oliva virgen, que cuenta con cerca de dos mil socios olivareros.

La mayor parte del olivar del que se obtiene el aceite esta inmerso en el Parque Natural de las Sierras Subbéticas, y una buena parte de su producción esta además amparada por la Denominación de Origen, con los controles de calidad que ello lleva consigo. En la actualidad se encuentran en el proceso de implantación de las Normas ISO-9002 e ISO-14001, para poder garantizar la máxima calidad del producto.

Esta cooperativa parte de una filosofía muy sólida para determinar el grado de calidad de sus productos: "El hombre no puede influir en el sabor, el olor ni el color del aceite, sólo puede conservar, con esmerado proceso de producción, lo que la naturaleza ha creado".

 

 

 BODEGAS ARCO DE CURIEL (D. O. RIBERA DEL DUERO)

Located in the Ribera del Duero region, the vineyard has 116 acres of Tempranillo variety vines, arranged in espaliers facing in such a way as to receive maximum sunlight. They grow on well-drained, loose alluvial soil with gravel, on a slight slope at 800-yard altitude. These aspects allow for the grapes to fully complete their ripening cycle, a characteristic which makes a considerable difference and materialises in the wines' fruity style.

The wine cellar was built in 1998, the facilities are equipped with the latest technology, including temperature-controlled stainless steel vats, with a total capacity of 66000 gallons. But state-of-the-art technology alone cannot replace the required tradition of craftsmanship: its cellars house the Bordeaux barrels (American and French oak) and the bottle rack area, with the coolness, stillness and darkness required by great wines.

Grapes are harvested in 44-pound boxes, ensuring that the fruit arrives at the winemaking cellar in optimal conditions. Grape-ripening controls determine the right time for harvesting, which is carried out in stages at our estate in Bocos de Duero. All the wines they produce are reds, and are distinguished by their ageing process. The wines are always aged separately, in barrels from different sources, depending on the fermenting process and time. The casks intensify the natural properties of the variety, which are combined with the spicy quality provided by oak.

 

 

 BODEGAS AGRÍCOLA LABASTIDA (D.O. RIOJA - Rioja Alavesa)

Located in Labastida (the heart of the Rioja Alavesa) Bodegas aGRÍCOLA labastida make their wines with grapes from their own old vines, from 30 to 60 years old. In making the wines they use the traditional method of the Rioja Alavesa, carbonic maceration. The grapes are fermented during eight days in cement tanks and then transferred to concrete tanks, set 9 meters underground in shafts dug in the 12th Century, where the process of malolactic fermentation is completed.

 

 

 CELLER VINYA JANINE (D. O. TARRAGONA)

The VINYA JANINE cellar makes, bottles and markets its own wines. Production is limited and the wines are the culmination of traditional methods and modern winemaking technology applied to a natural product taken from the cellar's own vines grown in particular area within the Tarragona Appellation. This combination of old and new, coupled with the physical and climatic characteristics of the area confer this wine with a unique personality.

 

 

 BODEGA SEÑORÍO DE AYLÉS (D. O. CARIÑENA)

Their winery is a place open to the traveller, a house in which the healthy tradition of offering wine is observed. In those lands, at the foot of Monte de San Pablo, they fulfil their obligation to receive their guests warmly. Their wines cheer their visitors' day, in keeping with the friendly, centuries-old tradition of opening their doors to the friend. A memorable visit can be made to the natural fault where Señorío de Aylés is situated, close to breathtaking rocky abysses, created by the erosion caused by the never-ending flow of the calcareous water of the river Huerva and the riverbank walk itself.

The markedly Aragonese architectural style manifests itself in all the corners of their winery which are enhanced by the presence of the old tools formerly used in the preparation of wine. However, tradition has given way to the modern technology with which Señorío de Aylés expresses its personal perception of winemaking and the production of quality wines. Combined with this is the peaceful atmosphere that prevails in their ageing facility in which new French and American oak wood is ever watchful over the process.

In Señorío de Aylés they have 70 hectares of the finest varieties within their own vineyards. The grapes are picked right at the peak of their ripeness and are transported in less than ten minutes from the stock to the winery, where the winemaking process begins. Their task is a methodical quest for the perfection of their product with the aim of producing extraordinarily distinguished red wines with their own character.

 

 

 BODEGAS GARMENDIA (TIERRA DE CASTILLA Y LEÓN)

The story of Garmendia Winery and Wineyards began in 1991, when after arriving at the Santa Rosalía estate, they found a former winery dating from the 18th century, which inspired them to try and re-establish the estate's former vineyards and continue the area's wine-producing tradition. They modelled theirselves of the chateau, or "Vinos de Pago" concept; with wineyards surrounding the winery, using their selected and monitores grapes, carefully making their wines in the tradicional way but also using modern wine-producing technology.

Year on year, since 1991, they have been planting the vineyard they have today, mostly with the Tempranillo variety, typical of the area, but to which they have added other varieties, such as Garnacha, Merlot and Graciano in the case of varieties of red wine, and Viura and Verdejo in the case if white varieties. To achieve maximum quality they only produce on average 4,000-5,000 kg of grapes per Ha, which vary depending on the climate conditions each year, the grape variety and the soil on each plot of land.

 

 

 BODEGA HERMANOS DEL VILLAR (D.O. RUEDA)

Bodega Hermanos del Villar was founded in 1995 as a family business aimed at producing wines of the highest quality in the area of Rueda. The philosophy of the winey is to provide the best that both the land and the people have to offer, turning their essence into wine.

The winery currently owns around 100 Ha of wineyards situated in prime areas of Rueda, planted with the noble varieties of Verdejo, Sauvignon Blanc and Tempranillo. The winery is housed in an old XVII century building that still preserves all the tradicional flavour of popular architecture. In this place, which is steeped in history, is to be found the latest winemaking technology. Over sixty feet beneath these walls run the deep and captivating caves where the barrels rest ant the bottles are stored the required time under natural conditions.