Protecting the crop with birds of prey in Ribera

Vineyards in Ribera

Ribera del Duero, Rueda & Toro Vineyard Walk

15 - 21 April 2013

We are very pleased to present our new Spanish Vineyard Walk which is through the vineyards of Rueda, Toro and Ribera del Duero.

Our route explores this intriguing region in Old Castille where the Duero river cuts through Northern Spain before it drops into Portugal and becomes the ‘Douro’. The Duero valley is a landscape of vast vistas with barren limestone escarpments and isolated villages that nestle under great castles. There are patches of gnarled old vines and ‘space-age’ wineries; this is indeed one of the world’s wine ‘hot spots’.

The first two days walking are in the Toro and Rueda regions, from our base in the medieval town of Tordesillas. Toro is to the west of the more famous classification of Ribera del Duero. The eponymous region of Toro takes its name from a small town, near Zamora. The vineyards are located about 600-750m above sea level. Toro is one of the sunniest regions of Spain, which means that the grapes reach full ripeness earlier than neighbouring regions. In the past this has also meant that excessive alcohol has been a feature of the wines – thankfully now the modern winemakers are producing fruit driven but balanced wines instead. Indeed there used to be a saying “tomando vino de Toro, más que comer devoro” – drinking Toro wine is more devouring than eating!”. The main variety is Tinto de Toro and all wines in the DO must be made from at least 75% of this variety. The wines are powerful reds of big structure.

Our next day by way of comparison, takes us to the predominantly white region of Rueda. It was granted D.O. in 1980 to protect the autonomous white variety, Verdejo. Much more recently reds and rosés are also permitted under the D.O. but it is for whites that the region has found it’s greatest success. The continental weather of hot summers and cold winters along with gravel based soils, produce a dry yet fruity, almost herb like flavours with excellent acidity, which makes for elegant complex wines. Wine growing has been in the region since the 11th century, when King Alfonso VI offered land ownership to resettle the area after the Reconquest. The famous Rioja wine estate, Marques de Riscal were the first to recognise the potential in the region, and they founded their winery in the area in 1971. They also planted Sauvignon Blanc along with Verdejo.

The next three days of walking, based out of Peñafiel, are in the vineyards of Ribera del Duero. Here, the limestone soils, hot days and cold nights give the wines uplifted aromas and a fresh character, with fine acidity, tannins and ‘flavour accumulation’.

When we first visited in 1988, the region was relatively unknown and very much in the shadow of Rioja on the world scene. The ground breaking 1986 vintage of Pesquera by Alejandro Fernandez had just been released and we were hugely excited by the intensity of the flavours and the raciness of the wine. The region was previously dominated by co-ops, who drove the bulk of the region’s wines until 1982 when the D.O. came into operation. It heralded vast investment, with new bodegas, a large increase in plantings and the birth of a modern classic region.

The vines line the north and south banks of the Duero River and are surrounded on all sides by flat-topped hills. The finest vines in the valley are grown at anywhere between 700m – 900m in the classic area just east of Valladolid. Soils, which are dominated by limestone, are easy to work and in places are quite beautiful. The political wrangles and D.O. border disputes were not about quality however, they were concerning some very good vineyards that were just downstream from the best part of the D.O. but outside of it. Tinto Fino or Tinto Pais accounts for the vast proportion of plantings and although D.O. wines must contain minimum 75% of it, they usually contain much more. Cabernet is the other favoured grape variety and it is not a recent import, it has been here since the beginning and was in the earliest vintages of Vega Sicilia. Malbec, Merlot and Garnacha are also planted.

As with our long running Rioja Walk, you’ll visit a mix of small growers and top bodegas (see the outline itinerary below).

This will be a fascinating walk to discover three of Spain’s most interesting wine regions.

If you would prefer to see this region without walking the vineyards, please see our Classic wine tour of Rioja & Ribera del Duero, 21 – 27 October or a small party tour, 2 – 8 September 2012.