Events ·
Harvest 2018 with friends and family
On Saturday 6 October, wine lovers and people curious about viticulture and the Ribera del Duero came to Fuentecén, a small village in the province of Burgos, to learn, ask, enjoy and spend an authentic day in the middle of the harvest.
They came from the United States, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Thailand, India, Germany, France and Spain to spend a day with family and friends.
They reached the pine wood of Fuentecén at around 10:45 on a bus that had picked them up on Calle María de Molina in Madrid. A welcome breakfast with coffee, tea and local pastries was waiting for them. Full of energy and after a short introduction, we walked to a vineyard whose diversity deserves an explanation: several grape varieties, uneven soils, different planting years and a very particular training system. This plot, called «La Tejera», is today the source of our award-winning wine Unanimous, released in November 2018. We shared with everyone our experience of making wine from this place, and the strengths and weaknesses of this terroir. We focused mainly on:
• Grape varieties
• Rootstocks
• Planting distances
• Row orientation and slope
• Remote sensing (IoT, the Internet of Things)
• Common vine diseases
• Rainfall and how the vineyard responds to water
• Heat summation
• Ripening parameters
Many of the guests used a refractometer to check how ripe the grapes were and saw on the spot how important the moment of harvest is. After lots of questions, we picked grapes into crates. With effort and dedication we gathered almost 300 kg, which we loaded onto a trailer and took to our winery in Pesquera de Duero.
The road from Fuentecén to Pesquera is fascinating, as it crosses the heart of the Ribera del Duero from east to west along a river valley that sparks many questions. One of the hardest to understand but easiest to answer is: what do you do to make your product better? The answer has many nuances, but a clear root: we do this because we love it, because we want to, and because what drives us is that others enjoy it. It rests on the three principles this company is built on: Land, Work and Time, which give their name to the three stones of our brand.
After passing Peñafiel castle, crossing the Duero and watching the countless vineyards along the road from the bus window, we reached Pesquera de Duero. Our winemaker was waiting for us with all the equipment ready to turn the fruit of our work (quite literally) into what will be NOBBIS 2018. Everyone watched the grapes come in while tasting the freshly pressed must. It is one of the great pleasures of harvest, which can only be understood by trying it on the spot.
After seeing the whole process, we checked how the fermentation of our ageing white was coming along: 100% Albillo Mayor from old vineyards, picked a few days earlier in perfect condition. Then came a tasting of three wines: NOBBIS 2016, NOBBIS 2012 Crianza and Unanimous 2016 Crianza, the last still awaiting classification by the Regulatory Council. The faces, the feelings and the looks said it all. It had been a hard morning, but the temperature of the cellar, the setting and the closeness of the barrels quietly nurturing great wines made the moment unforgettable.
We packed up and headed back to Fuentecén. One important part of the Ribera del Duero food experience was still to come: eating lechazo, suckling lamb roasted the traditional way over vine cuttings! The pine wood of Fuentecén is one of those pleasant, little-known places of the Ribera, «drilled» with centuries-old cellars dug into the earth. A place that explains by itself what used to be a wine store and a source of energy for hard farm work. Some old wine presses are still standing, but sadly none can easily be visited… yet.
After lunch, and after handing out prizes and gifts to those celebrating birthdays, the afternoon drew on and we used the last hours to visit an underground cellar. It is a family cellar that keeps the remains of a former workplace, now a place of worship. This is where TRESPIEDRAS now keeps its most precious bottles, away from light and at stable temperature and humidity.
With this last experience we ended an intense day full of emotion. We were delighted to have you all here and to share what we love doing every day. We hope to see you all again, friends.
Source: TresPiedras blog, published on 8 October 2018.