4/13/12

Bodegas Aalto cult or not?

Ribera del Duero have very old traditions of winemaking all back to the old Romans and Phoenician times who showed the Iberian people at that time how to make wine and viticulture.

The Moorish conquerors know how to irrigate and that made even the driest part of the country a winegrowing area that still today flourish from this.

Most of today’s vineyards use to have connections to the church and believed are that the monks from France left some secrets behind on they pilgrimage tours.

Bodegas Aalto was born in 1999 by Mariano Garcia who was the winemaker at Vega Sicilia for more than 30 years and his good friend Javier Zaccagnini who was the head for the Consejo in Ribera.

The 32 first hectares is now 43 of the best sites in the area like La Horra and La Aquilera that are plantings between 40 to 100 years of age, absolutely fantastic when you thing about it.

The grape in Ribera have always been a certain clone of Tempranillo here called Tinto Fino and are widely planted in that part of Spain.

All the wine from seven different villages are vinified separately and the blended for the best balance and future, the wine is after that barrel aged for a minimum of 20 months in new and used barriques.

Aalto is a tasty wine with great ambition and some may even consider this as a cult wine, I don’t think so but that is another storey.

The PS is even more selected and a bigger wine in my taste and for all of you who is interested in Ribera wines should come to my tasting this saturday.



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