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Kobrand Scores With
Abadía Retuerta
The extraordinary estate of
Abadía Retuerta is situated just outside the border of the Ribera del Duero
region in Spain’s north central province of Castilla y León, near the village
of Sardón. Twenty miles east of the city of Valladolid, it lies in the heart of
an expanse of wine estates stretching from Tudela de Duero to Peñafiel known as
“the golden mile,” an area parallelling the banks of the Duero River so named
for its lengthy history of producing some of Spain’s finest and most acclaimed
wines. Notably, it is just a few miles from Vega Sicilia, producer of Unico,
one of the rarest and most expensive wines of Spain.
The monastery and vineyards of Abadía de Santa María de Retuerta were
established in 1146 by Count Sancho Garcia, who placed them by a grant of
concession in the hands of the French monastic order of Saint Norbert. The
monastery was one of a network designed to accomplish the Christian reconquest
of Iberia, pushing the Moors southward out of Asturias, León, Castilla and
finally across the strait of Gibraltar. The name of the abbey, “abadía” in
Spanish, is a corruption of “rívola torta,” “retuerta,” referring to the
winding riverbank along which the vineyards lie. Documents dating to the
mid-1600s substantiate that by that time, the hundred or so monks in residence
produced approximately 125,000 liters of wine annually, dominating the market
of Valladolid, the commercial center of Castilla. Such was the sophistication
of the order’s approach to viticulture that each plot of vines on the estate
was identified and named. Those names are still preserved among Abadía
Retuerta’s single-vineyard wines.
Santa María de Retuerta remained in the hands of the order until 1835. From
1835 to 1988, the property passed through a series of owners. In the latter
1970s, the vines were entirely uprooted in ancitipation of the establishment of
the adjacent Ribera del Duero D.O. in 1982. In 1988, the property was purchased
by the Swiss pharmaceutical group Novartis (then Sandoz). Over a little more
than a decade, Novartis invested in excess of twelve million Euros in
revitalizing the estate. Following a thorough soil analysis, individual
vineyard plots were identified and the vineyards replanted between 1991 and
1993. The estate was formally reestablished in 1996 with the completion of a
new winery and vinification of the first harvest. Restoration of the 12th
century abbey, one of the most important Romanesque works of its time and a
National Heritage monument, continues.
The Abadía Retuerta estate covers 1,750 acres of which 510 are planted to
vineyards. The vineyards form a contiguous whole divided into 54 blocks
according to differences in soil composition and mesoclimate. Rising from the
bank of the Duero, at 2,100 feet, to an elevation of roughly 2,550 feet, they
describe a gentle, north-facing slope. Soil composition is heterogenous, with
sand, clay and some gravel near the river and limestone scattered with
aggregate boulders and stone on the upper reaches of the hillside. The climate
is extreme continental and semi-desert, with hot summers, cold winters and
average annual rainfall of 300 mm to 450 mm; drip irrigation is used when
needed.
Abadía Retuerta’s approach to viticulture and vinification is fundamentally and
thoroughly focused on terroir. Each of the 54 vineyard blocks is treated
individually from cultivation through aging until the final blend is assembled.
The finished wines are either blends of several blocks or in some cases
single-block cuvées. The varietietal representation is 65 percent Tempranillo,
25 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and ten percent Merlot, with minor experimental
plots of Syrah and Petit Verdot. Ten plots have been identified which are as of
yet unplanted. Vines are trained to the espalier system with vertical shoot
positioning at a density of four by nine feet. Clusters are thinned after
veraison to achieve an average yield of two to four tons per acre.
The Abadía Retuerta vinification facility is one of the world’s most
innovative. Located among the vineyards, it was completed in 1996, and has a
surface area of approximately 90,000 square feet. Designed by consulting
oenologist Pascal Delbeck, proprietor of Château Ausone, the winery is
conceived around a gravity flow system which rapidly moves the grapes and wine
through each step in the vinification process in the gentlest manner possible.
This preserves the natural qualities of the fruit and the imprint of the
terroir most effectively in the wine.
Cap submersion, racking, blending and bottling are all accomplished through gravity
flow. Barriques are decanted through a valve fitted to a stave on the under
surface of the barrel so they can be emptied without moving. Specially
designed, 6,000-liter stainless steel vessels called “ovi” are used to collect
and move the must and wines from one step in the process to the next,
eliminating the need for pumps. Multiple 30,000-liter stainless steel
fermenters and 19,000-liter stainless steel vats for malolactic fermentation,
all temperature controlled, allow each lot to be maintained separately
throughout the vinification process. The facility is completed by a
state-of-the-art laboratory and an aging cellar of 5,000-barrel capacity cut
into the adjacent mountainside. Humidity and temperature are naturally
maintained at optimum levels for the wines’ development.
Winemaking at Abadía Retuerta is under the technical direction of Angel
Anocibar, who is considered to be one of Spain’s finest oenologists and
something of a natural genius. Working closely with Managing Director Donald
Cusimano, Pascal Delbeck and the viticulture and vinification staffs, he is
meticulous in his approach to the wines. In the vineyard, each plot is followed
individually and, six weeks prior to anticipated maturity, the grapes begin
analysis which is repeated every two to three days until harvest. Harvest is by
hand, followed by hand sorting. The bunches are destemmed, crushed and
transferred in ovi to the fermenters. Alcoholic fermentation is initiated by
selected cultured yeasts and takes place over a period of approximately six to
eleven days at a maximum temperature of 85ºF. Several times daily during
fermentation, must is drawn from the tank into ovi and poured back over the cap
to submerge the skins into the juice. The finished wine then macerates on the
skins for approximately two weeks to further extract and integrate the tannins.
The free run wine is decanted and the marc pressed separately in pneumatic
presses. The press wine may or may not be used in the finished blend. Both are
then transferred in ovi to clean tanks where complete malolactic fermentation
takes place. Each lot is evaluated, the blends are assembled, and the wines are
placed in 225-liter French and American, medium to medium-plus toast oak
barriques for aging. Depending on the cuvée, casks of up to up to the third
harvest’s use are used, and twenty-five percent of cooperage is replaced each
year. During an aging period of between twelve and twenty months, again
depending on the cuvée, racking and any other procedure requiring removal of wine
from the barrique are carried out using the ovi. The wines are then fined with
egg whites and bottled without filtration.
Abadía Retuerta’s wines are all produced under the Vino de la Tierra de
Castilla y León appellation. The range consists of eight wines, of which Rívola
and Selección Especial are the standard bearers and most representative of the
estate’s overall style. The remaining wines are small production cuvées named
for individual vineyard sites within the estate and sourced from a single or very
few blocks: Cuvée Palomar, Pago la Garduña (a site-specific Syrah), Pago
Valdebellón, Pago Negralada and PV (a site-specific, 100% Petit Verdot).
Vinified in a fresh, clean, focused style expressing concentrated varietal
clarity and articulation of terroir, they are particularly characterized by
balance, elegance and finesse of tannic structure. Production as of 2006 is
85,000 9-liter cases with a maximum potential increase of ten to twenty
percent.
Abadia Retuerta Selección Especial
Selección Especial is dense ruby-garnet in color, with a subtle, complex
nose of ripe red berry and wild black cherries offset by notes of violet,
menthol, spice and vanilla. Silky, ripe red fruits and hints of spice and mint
predominate on the palate, with a full, harmonious balance underscored by
refined tannins. The finish is finely textured and lingering. Suggested Retail
Price: $21
Abadia Retuerta Cuvée Palomar
Deep crimson in color with ruby highlights, Cuvée Palomar shows intense
aromas of fresh ripe red berry and preserved plum with notes of violets, orange
peel, mint and hints of caramel from the barrel toast. These impressions carry
onto a full, voluptuous palate with further floral notes and nuances of
torrefaction set in a silky tannic structure of elegant balance. The finish is
long and powerful, an expression of one of the great microclimates of the Duero
Valley. Suggested Retail Price:$48.
Abadia Retuerta Rivola
Róvola is brilliant ruby in color with violet highlights. On the nose,
the wine is fresh and generously fruity, with impressions of ripe raspberries,
strawberries and wild cherries offset by notes of jasmine, spice and mint. The
fragrance is confirmed on the palate, which is mellow, fresh and succulent,
supported by clean, subtle, sweetly ripe tannins ending in a silky, elegant
finish. Suggested Retail Price: $15
Side Dish
CabaretNYC®
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Broadway On The Net®
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These reviews are available and have been seen on the Internet. Click here to see an index of other reviews on the worldwide web <http://www.punchin.com>. <http://www.wineonline.net>. They have been heard on WNCN, WEVD and WQXR radio, seen in Fodor's and Mobil Guide Books, and printed in Chocolatier, Troika, Trump and Metropolitan Millionaire magazines and newspapers and throughout the world, including the NY Post, Women's Wear Daily and the NY Times, via the Punch In International Network. This review may be reprinted free of charge, so long as source and byline credit are included: "The Walman Report," "Punch In International®," Wine On Line International®.
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