In the Union of Spain , in Castilla y Léon , is the often-overlooked region of Bierzo . Rural , rustic and inaccessible , without the urban bustle of Madrid and Seville or the sweeping architecture of Barcelona , Bierzo was depart to itself for much of the last millenary . That ’s one of the reasons you may be unfamiliar with the area up until now . Recent years have convey raw attention to the neighborhood and its wine .
Bierzo has been gaining increasing attention since it first receive prescribed recognition as a DO ( Denominación Origen , which is standardized to France ’s AOC and Italy ’s DOC ) in 1989 [ seed : Apstein ] . The man widely recognize for the area ’s resurgence is Alvaro Palacios , who , with his nephew Ricardo Pérez , get grow grape here in the 1990s [ source : Schoenfeld ] .
Bierzo ’s renaissance is as cracker-barrel and hand-crafted as they total . Vineyards are generally tiny here , give entirely to native species , and many of Bierzo ’s wine-coloured are single - vinery products . Some vineyard , in fact , create fewer than 1,000 bottle a year [ seed : Schoenfeld ] . That scarceness is likely to drive up the price of these Spanish wine-colored as Bierzo attracts more and more attention . Fortunately , Bierzo ’s dark , expansive wines – some of them not even oaked – tend to age well , so you could buy a bottleful as an investment when it ’s immature . With trends tilt toward quality over quantity in recent history , Beirzo ’s small identification number may not hold them back .
Bierzo Wine Region History and Culture
Bierzo ’s first industry was not wine – it was mining . Romans colonise the area and put slaves to work extract atomic number 79 from Stone at Las Medulas . This was a serious performance , involve fluid mechanics and the building of an artificial lake . Later , excavation efforts would focus on coal and iron [ source : Parode ] . The in high spirits mineral content of the Bierzo soil is still important , but today citizenry are benefiting from it via grapevine .
Barbarian tribes – the Visigoths and the Suevi – invade after the Roman Empire fell . The Visigoths apparently mingled less than the later invader , the Moors ; Visigoth language leave alone few traces in Spanish , although Visigoth architecture is still visible in some areas [ source : Spanish Fiestas ] . Although the emperor Justinian planned to oust the Visigoths , after several centuries the program was abandoned , and the Visigoths ' loss leader , Recarred , converted to Catholicism [ sources : Berschin , Spanish Fiestas ] .
Religion has always forge Bierzo . An early abbot , Valerius ( or Valerio ) of Bierzo , is responsible for much of what we know about the area in the former Middle Ages [ source : Berschin ] . Valerius also develop an influential educational model that came to master rural school day [ source : Udaondo ] .
In the ninth century , the remains of St. James were discovered and then interred at the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela , and Bierzo became a destination for holy Pilgrim [ source : Parode ] . You might recognise it as the finish of Chaucer ’s pilgrims from Canterbury .
The Compostela pilgrimage reshape the Bierzo countryside . Cacabelos was a stop along the track , and the city still commemorate such vagabonds each year [ reference : Cellar Tours ] . Monks cultivated wine-coloured to refreshen the weary travelers , and more and more monasteries and church form up along the trail . The Knights Templar even take an pursuit in the pilgrims ' prophylactic , build the monolithic rook in Ponferrada [ source : Parode ] . tourist today can still duplicate the journeying on animal foot [ reservoir : Humphrey Davy ] .
In the early 1800s , during the Peninsular War , northern Spain became a battleground for forces beyond its ascendance : the Gallic army , led by Napoleon Bonaparte , and the English , led by Wellington . After Wellington ’s overwhelming victory at Vitoria , the retreating French ransack Bierzo ’s monastery and village . France thereby lose the documentation of Spain – a loss that would prove crucial in Napoleon ’s fall from tycoon a few years later [ source : Jackson ] .
Despite all this activity , Bierzo remained stubbornly rural . Ponferrada is still the largest city , but its population is only about 65,000 [ root : Parode ] .
Bierzo Wine Region Agriculture
The prevalent red grapeshot in Bierzo is the Mencía , although Garnacha Tintorera , Tempranillo and a few other grapes are also used to make Bierzo ’s red wine-colored . aboriginal whites let in Godello , Palomino , Doña Blanca and Malvasio . Of all these , it ’s the Mencía that has been driving late involvement in the vino of Bierzo . The grape is civilize almost exclusively in the north of Spain , and its flavor is reliably singular – fruity , tannic but not harsh , with mineral tone [ root : Cellar Tours ]
Though it focuses on aboriginal grapes , Bierzo ’s viticulture is somewhat continental . mountain protect the low - lie down realm from the sea - drive extreme point of temperature that threaten the sleep of Spain . Much of the soil is or was once alluvial ; one C ago , the area used to be a lake [ source : Parode ] . Fertile alluvial dirt still draw the Sil River .
Higher , in the steep , rocky slopes , soils are chiefly ticket with a high mineral mental object , and the temperature and mood are more like those of France than of the rest of Spain [ source : Cellar circuit ] . land in some sphere stop quartzite , a further defense against high temperature . Alvaro Palacios swears that wines ruminate the flavors of violent local herbs such as jara ( both citrusy and heartily spicy ) . elm tree and chestnut trees dot the hill , and lush green ivy clingstone to the walls and rock [ source : Schoenfeld ] .
Bierzo coalesce blistering day with cool nighttime – a compounding widely believed to be fundamental to the ontogenesis of strong , intricate flavors in wine . dinero develop in the daytime heat , which can give 105 degrees Fahrenheit ( 40.5 degree Anders Celsius ) . But when that heat is regularly interrupt , the lettuce become nuanced rather than consuming [ source : Schoenfeld ] .
aspect of Bierzo will make you feel as though you ’ve traveled backwards in time . Some village still have communal bread oven and laundry pool , and many hoi polloi still live in lowly , centuries - old stone houses . alike , most vineyards in Bierzo are relatively small-scale operation – home - owned tracts of about 2 acres ( .8 hectare ) . Because the mountains are so steep , cultivation and harvest home still bank on horse and mule [ source : Apstein ] . Outputs are therefore fair low-pitched . For economic survival , many growers have come to trust on co-op .
On the next page , we ’ll take a feeling at the vino that are beginning to draw so much outside tending .
Famous Wines of the Bierzo Wine Region
In the hands of Bierzo ’s vintners , Mencía grapes grow complex wines that are fruity but still subtle and expressive , with silkiness to balance their earthiness . vulgar denomination include joven ( young ) , crianza , reserve and gran reserve [ source : Apstein ]
By all story , Alvaro Palacios is the Bierzo winemaker to follow . Since the 1990s , Palacios and his family have been a driving force out between the resurgence of the realm , with at least one commentator proclaim : " Palacios is Bierzo " [ source : Apstein ] .
Palacios ’s 2005 Pétalos Bierzo is one in the growing number of biodynamically produced vino . Biodynamics treats the soil as a populate being , and biodynamic Farmer devote themselves to practices , such as crop rotation , design to preserve the health of the soil . The Pétalos ages for just four calendar month in oak tree . But it ’s a saturnine , full - bodied wine , plumy , gamy and warm [ reservoir : Garr ] . Also devote attention to Palacios ’s 2005 La Faraona , rare San Martin ( a small - batch , single - vinery wine ) , edgy Moncerbal and lavishly flowered , fruity Las Lamas [ source : Apstein ] .
Dominio Tares create several large - flavored Mencía wine-colored : the unoaked Albares ; the creamy Baltos ; the earthy Exaltos ; and the smoky , exotic Bembibre . All are rich and expansive , warm and fruity , with hints of minerality and tar providing contrast [ source : Apstein ] . Dominio Tares also create a notable Edward Douglas White Jr. from Godello grape [ source : Parode ] .
Paixar produce only about 9,000 bottle a twelvemonth . If you could discover it , wine author Michael Apstein suggests that you make the leverage . Of picky note are the 2001 and 2003 Paixar Bierzos . Both clearly reflect the vinery ’s slate stain with mineral - stress , black cherry and other yield flavors [ source : Apstein ] .
The wines of Luna Beberide are seldom included on Bierzo ’s DO label , because they incorporate non - aboriginal grapes , such as Cabernet and Merlot . Nevertheless , vintner Bernardo Luna has been another of the major forces behind the area ’s late renaissance , and his wines deserve reference too . Also deserving noting : Luna acquire one of the few solid contenders to emerge from the scorching summer of 2003 . Try the 2003 Tierres de Luna or the 2004 Reserva [ germ : Apstein ] .
Other Bierzo producer to determine for let in Pittacum and Castro Ventoso , as well as the Vega Montan Bierzo Godello .
With so many exciting contenders , Bierzo may well emerge as the little wine region that could . In fact , some observers expect it to outperform Priorat . Now is definitely the time to discover the splendid , strange Mencía grape vine .
To instruct more about Spanish wines and related to data , visit the links on the next varlet .
