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.
