Winebow Producer Book

DOCa Priorato , Spain

Winery Overview Francesc Sanchez Bas, is an agricultural engineer who certifies organic viticultural practices for the Spanish government and teaches agriculture at the University of Tarragona. He owns the vineyards that formerly supplied old vine grapes to the winery Fra Fulco. In 1996, he built a small winery in the cellar of his house in the village of La Vilella Alta and began producing his own wine with the help of talented winemaker, Roser Amorós. Today, his wines express the depth and concentration of the Priorato’s Garnacha and Cariñena.

Location of Vineyard Francesc Sanchez Bas’s vineyards are located near the village of La Vilella Alta in DOCa Priorato.

Winemaking Philosophy Francesc Sanches Bas wines are memorable expressions of the DOCa’s unique terroir , marked by its speckled, granitic, llicorella soil. Matured in French barriques, the wines show the depth and concentration typical of Priorato’s unforgiving, low yielding soil.

DOCa Rioja , Spain

Winery Overview Labastida is owned by the Union de Cosecheros de Labastida, a group of 152 independent growers. Together, they farm 1,400 acres of Tempranillo and Viura vines with an average age of over 30 years, producing red wines of spectacular power and intensity. Labastida’s highly skilled winemaker, Manuel Ruiz, carries on the family tradition as the son of one of the foremost scholar enologists in Rioja. While modern within, Labastida’s winery is situated in the original homestead of Manuel Quintano, one of the most influential figures in Rioja winemaking. Quintano, a clergyman, arrived in Rioja in 1786 from Bordeaux, bringing with him extensive winemaking knowledge. His influence is still seen today in the winery’s use of American oak barrels. Location of Vineyard Labastida is a beautiful old village in the foothills of the Sierra Cantabria, in the Rioja Alavesa subregion, northwest of the city of Haro. The altitude here is higher and the climate cooler and wetter than in the rest of Rioja, which results in wines of unusual freshness. Winemaking Philosophy Labastida wines undergo fermentation in stainless steel followed by one year in French and American oak and one year in bottle. The combination of thirty year old vines and meticulous winemaking create elegant Riojas with an unabashed and delicious sense of place.