Wine Blog

Ribera del Duero

A Guide to the Ribera del Duero Region

Wine has been produced in the region for thousands of years, but viticulture as we know it probably arrived in the Ribera del Duero region with Benedictine monks from Cluny in the Burgundy region of France in the twelfth century. Ribera del Duero winemaking goes back over 2,000 years as evidenced by the 66-meter mosaic of Bacchus, the god of wine, that was unearthed relatively recently at Baños de Valdearados. The Denominación de Origen (D.O.) of Ribera del Duero was founded on July 21, 1982, by an organization of wine producers and growers who were determined to promote the quality of their wines and enforce regulatory standards. Reports that it was set to be upgraded to Denominación de Origen Calificada (DOCa) status in 2008 proved to be unfounded and, as at 2011, it remains a DO and has no plans to change.

Grapes

Wines produced in the Ribera del Duero DO derive almost exclusively from red grapes. The vast majority of production is dedicated to Tinto Fino (the local name for Tempranillo), the dominant red varietal in the northern half of the Spanish peninsula. Tinto Fino is often, but not always, complemented with Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Merlot, although the famous Tinto Pesquera, grown by Alejandro Fernández in Pesquera de Duero, is a 100% Tempranillo varietal wine. The introduction of Pesquera’s 100% Tinto Fino wine was, at the time, somewhat controversial as the considered benchmark Vega Sicilia wines traditionally blended Tinto Fino with such Bordeaux varietals as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec.