Undrinkable!
Too much oak, too much power!!
That was always our reaction, Johan’s and mine, back around 1998 whenever we tasted yet another new Ribera del Duero.
We didn’t have a single wine from the region in our range back then. There were plenty of new, modern projects in Ribera del Duero, but none of them convinced us. Always too oaky, too much extraction, no balance, too much power. Remember, those were the 90s: Power all over the place! Undrinkable!
But a region with so much potential! Surely someone had to be making something good? Something classic, elegant, with a sense of terroir and personality?!
Back then, only Vega Sicilia fitted that description for us, and their wines were still well beyond our reach…
Then one morning, early in 1998, a 30-page fax (!) suddenly came through at our office! Nothing but articles, awards and scores for a single estate.
The fax came from one of the region’s great classics: Viña Pedrosa in Pedrosa de Duero. We knew them and were big fans, but they too were out of reach because their wines already had an importer in Belgium. What we didn’t know was that their importer had just gone bankrupt. They told me when I called for more information. Two weeks later, we met at a wine fair in Barcelona.
The rest is history…
And what a history…
They were one of the five founding members of the Ribera del Duero appellation in 1982. Vega Sicilia was another. Great classics, side by side.
Of course, the wines of Vega Sicilia remain the region’s great classics. In recent years, though, you can taste a more modern touch, without any departure from their history or style.
Viña Pedrosa, meanwhile, still makes its wines the traditional way: low yields from organically farmed vineyards, perfectionism all over the place, and ageing in American and French oak barriques.
Today, this is without doubt the most traditional of Ribera del Duero’s great classic estates.
This is exactly our style of Ribera del Duero: refined, elegant, a little rustic, and ageing beautifully.
And above all, that wonderful gamey nose, that sanguine character of the Gran Reserva!
With game season approaching, this is simply the perfect pairing.
Viña Pedrosa offers a traditional range of wines, from Crianza to Gran Reserva.
But today, I want to talk about the Gran Reserva.
2018 was a cool, great vintage in this region. Perfect conditions for many years of ageing! And believe me, this Gran Reserva 2018 is phenomenal today and will only get better over the next 15 years.