Demencia, Goes to the Museum

 Demencia, trends, wines  No Responses »
Jul 082012
 

The cultural center Palacio Quintanar, in Segovia, Spain, inaugurated the exhibition “Design Di Vino”

“Design Di Vino” is the title of the new exhibition Palacio Quintanar inaugurated last Friday June 29th This multidisciplinary display contains the graphic image and corporate identity, history and key references of an important selection of Castilla and Leon wineries. It also incorporates the new proposals that the local wine sector uses to compete in the international scene with a very careful product that identifies the land and the characteristic craft of the region. A total of 22 wineries are involved exhibiting more than 70 bottles, labels, capsules and closures, accompanied by photographs, graphics, text, and videos.

The exhibition is part of the cycle Castile and Leon Wines: Wines of Europe, organized in collaboration with the Association Eno-solidary Hundred Smiles & C2C Project, which has also included the international tasting “Riesling Tag”, the solidary wine workshop ” Hundred Smiles Label ” and will offer a wine tasting in July featuring the leading winemakers in the area. The exhibition will remain open until Thursday July 26, 2012.

A Fool’s Wine

 Demencia, winemakers  No Responses »
Mar 312012
 

Translation from:
Monday 12.MAR.2012 - EL NORTE DE CASTILLA
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NIEVES CABALLERO

Original from Valladolid, Nacho Leon leads a small sustainable project at DO Bierzo with his Demencia de Autor


Valladolid. He belongs to a generation of young winemakers for whom the important things are the vineyard and the wine, and the elaboration building is secondary. Nacho León (Valladolid, 1975) has started the house from the foundation, to develop a modern wine with traditional methods. His sustainable project is called Demencia and dons the back label of the DO Bierzo since 2007. It grew out of a dream, a kind of madness, but the winery Demencia de Autor is already a benchmark for high quality wines from Bierzo.

After initial steps into the world of wine in La Rioja, this agricultural engineer from Valladolid landed in Bierzo as a winery manager and got hooked with an area and a variety that is what gives character to the wines from this wine region, the grape Mencia. The project began to take shape in 2006. The name of the wine came from a play on words between the raw material and the foolishness of undertaking an authentic adventure, that of preventing the loss of old vineyards for lack of profitability.

“Older people left the vineyard and their children won’t take over” he laments. So Nacho Leon took the hoe and pruning shears and bought a small vineyard, which, at first, looked like his garden, without much plans, and at the same time keeping his day job. But coming harvest, the bug got stronger, so he bought two tanks of 1,500 liters and began to produce wine in the traditional way with “bazuqueos” (punching the cap), but looking for a modern wine.

Friends helped him gather the grapes, until the young Javier Vidal joined the project, son of vinegrowers from Bierzo, who now has become Nacho’s “hands and eyes.” In 2009, he left his job and now lives on his mad project. He has purchased other parcels, where they adapt the vines, improve the soils, and pulls certain varieties which, from their point of view, do not work in this area, and buy the grapes from other growers. He likes loam to sandy loam soils, facing east, with a gentle slope.

The goal is to grow very slowly, at most reaching 10,000 bottles a year. Now they have rented a warehouse in Toral de los Vados, headquarters of the winery Demencia de Autor, and the future plans include building a small winery, designed to develop their craft. At this time they embarked on a project to replant 3 000 vines grafting native clones adapted to the terrain of Bierzo in a Navarra’s nursery.

It’s a 100% Mencia red, the grape that gives personality to the wines from Bierzo

 

Nacho Leon poses with a bottle of his Demencia
Photo Henar Sastre

Despite his enthusiasm it’s hard to believe that he makes a living out of this madness in such difficult times. But he insists it is an advantage to be born in a crisis that puts everyone in place. Nacho Leon said many wineries have abandoned the idea of producing good wines, but the project remains.

In the second vintage, the 2007, 4000 bottles were sold. Dementia 2007 achieved a Gold Medal in the London Sommelier Wine Awards. The 2008 vintage aged for thirteen months in 22 French oak barrels to produce 6,336 bottles of a wine with touches of modernity. The grapes come from 25 plots located in the vineyards of Matadeprada, Valdelaliebre, Valdedemanteiga and Villegas.

Walking the Halls

He thinks that the project has matured enough to give it a further commercial boost. Nacho Leon passes by Valladolid on his return from the German city of Dusseldorf after “walking the halls” (they can not afford to pay an exhibitor booth) in Prowein, the most important wine fair for the countries of northern Europe, those with some of their major clients. Sweden, Finland and Norway (through an import monopoly, because there is no other way to enter these countries), Denmark, Belgium and Germany are the main destinations to which he exports small quantities of their diminute edition, thanks to the PIPE program of Spain’s Institute of Foreign Trade (ICEX). Last year they also made ​​the leap to Mexico and the United States.

In Spain he has woven a small network of distributors that carry the wine to cities like Barcelona, ​​Mallorca, Valencia, Murcia, Jaen, San Sebastian and Madrid.

Now the goal of Nacho Leon is to return the inheritance to those who come behind. He considers that the vineyard has a great potential to eliminate unemployment in Bierzo. He learns continuously from the elders in the region, traditional knowledge such as the moon influences on the maturation process of the vineyard and at the time of harvest, but also when tasting wines.

Demencia 2008

 wines  No Responses »
Apr 142011
 

 

demencia-bottle Great depth of color with good concentration. Brilliant burgundy color, violet rim, with full tears. In the nose very expressive, exposing the notes of the variety, fruity aromas, with a toasted feature evoking fine wood. In the mouth, silky and ample entry, with a sweet and balsamic peak, where we find ripen fruit. It is a fresh wine with good mineral hints, excellent acidity, and a very well integrated alcohol. Hints of milk and defined tannins. High complexity and elegant touches.

It is a Mencia varietal, fresh but potent; dense, elegant and very long in the mouth. The bottle uncovers as the time passes, with each glass becoming a new discovery.

Mencia – The Soul of Bierzo Wines

 grapes  No Responses »
Apr 142011
 

 

Mencia grapes at harvest

Mencia is grown in the Northwestern region of Spain near the borders of Galicia, Leon, and Zamora. Mencia produces fruity wines of great color, acidity and aging potential. It is sweet and aromatic, with a good dose of alcohol. The vines produce medium-sized clusters and fruit.

The reds made from Mencia have a characteristic velvety palate. Traditional reds are pale, fragrant and light wines. Modern winemakers are creating bolder reds, of higher concentration, expressing Mencia’s aromas and freshness. Many wineries are taking advantage of the variety ability to aging.

Rose wines are aromatic and fruity, lively, light and soft.

Demencia de Autor

 winemakers  No Responses »
Apr 142011
 

Our dream is to create a grand wine, based on our understanding of the vineyard, its terroir, and the native Mencia grapes. An artisan production, a vigilant aging, …

DEMENCIA is the Spanish word for dementia, a word that relates to the dysfunctional or the disorientation, a small mental disorder, but loaded with creativity and brilliance. This is the spirit of DEMENCIA wine. A young project created and developed by young people with a thing in common: they are foolish about wine.

Nacho Leon and Javier Vidal toil in El Bierzo, a hidden gem with long history as a wine country in Northwest Spain. The selected parcels are near the village of Valtuille, the hearth of the golden mile of El Bierzo vineyards. Soils are loam to sandy loam, with east exposure, a gentle slope, and old vines. They proudly tend less than 10 acres divided in more than 30 parcels. Most vineyards are in the best regarded sites of the region: Caños de las Virgenes, Cova de La Raposa, Matadeprada, Valdelaliebre, Valdemanteiga, or Villegas are some examples.

They follow a winegrower philosophy. The wine is grown in the vineyard. They are undertaking a tremendous project of recuperating some of these parcels in the old fashioned way. They practice eco-sustainable viticulture, caring for each plant individually and minimizing treatments.

Their intervention in the winemaking is also minimalist. Small scale production done by hand, evoking the traditions of the area. “We implemented what we heard from our elders” they say. “One of our fixations is to rack the wine coinciding with the different phase of the moon, and also acording to our mood, always paying attention to the technical requirements of the wine.”

“We believe that these are some of the reasons why our wine is a bit irrational. In fact, the idea of giving life to the wine makes us a bit foolish. It is a blessed madness that we love.”

Terroir in El Bierzo

 thoughts, winemaking  No Responses »
Apr 132011
 

 

Winemaking talk is usually limited to the processes of fermentation and aging, and often one of the most important factors is forgotten: the grape, characterized by the variety, the climate of the vintage, the viticulture practices and of course, the soil where it grows.

All these factors are included in the concept of terroir, a mythical and sensual French word that defines the influence of the soil where the vineyard is located and the distinguishing geological, climatic and human factors.

Thus, the winemaker is defined as the master of ceremonies of this symphony of variables that changes vintage after vintage. His knowledge, his attachment to the region, and his sensitivity, allow him to translate all these particularities in a unique wine.

Generally, the soils in El Bierzo are composed of clay. In the higher grounds, the soil is more evolved, resulting in slate formations. These are soils with high water retention capacity, that regulate the water contribution to the plants of the Mencia variety, and contribute to the mineral characteristic of the wines that adds elegance to a grape of delicate constitution.

Although the soil characteristics are important, and the Bierzo vineyards can be considered among the best in the world, it is very important not to forget the human touch, considering its influence in the treatment of the soil and the plant. It should be remembered that the plant “speaks” and it must be “listened” in order to get honest wines, where the role of the winemaker gets diluted and the terroir takes over with power, something often forgotten, perhaps in pursuit of production or other necessities of ignoble character.

Knowledge of the terroir is a goal that lasts a lifetime full of experiences and feelings, a knowledge that can not be transcribed into a book. In some regions, this knowledge has been inherited from generation to generation since ancestral times.

Post translated from DeBierzo.com ~ Shop & Blog – El Terruño Berciano

http://www.debierzo.com/blog/812/el-terruno-berciano/