The clone used for the Austum Tempranillo was specifically selected by the University of Davis California. Producing low yield (4000kg per hectare) small grapes and earlier ripening that give greater concentrations and deep colour. The region has extreme climates with hot days and cool nights which create wines of great aromas and flavours. The Austum Tinta Fina from Bodegas Tionio is one of the few Ribera del Duero wines that are certified organic by CAECYL. Bodegas Tionio also produces a Verdejo from the Rueda region that is known for gravelly soils and continental weather producing a wine full of aroma and is intense, smart, clean and true to the Verdejo varietal.

The Ribera del Duero has a continental climate, with average rainfall of only 450mm per year. It has an average temperature of 11.5°C, but has considerable seasonal temperature contrasts.

The region is part of the great northern plateau of the Iberian Peninsula, where the soils are made up of sediments from the tertiary period: sandy clays and limes alternate with layers of limestone and marl.

Their estate “Finca Asperilla” is in the Peñafiel district at some 850m above sea level. It is made up of 18 hectares of Tinta Fina and 2 hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon.

The vineyard was planted in 1994 on a range of soils, predominantly limestone and gravels. The vines are trained on a cordon trellising system. The high plant density of 3800 vines per hectare (2.2m between rows and 1.2m between vines) naturally regulates the vigour of the vines by creating competition for scarce nutrients. The vineyard is planted from East to West.

The leaf canopy is managed with green pruning and leaf removal to improve grape quality, increase the effectiveness of sanitary treatments (thus enabling us to reduce the overall number of treatments). The little fertilizer that is used is all organic and has mineral complements.

Sanitary treatments are kept to a minimum and only products that respect the environment are used: Only natural products like sulphur, copper hydroxide and Bacillus Thuringiensis are used to control illnesses and plagues.

The grapes are picked by hand, and transported to the cellar in small 20kg crates. There they go through a strict selection process where trained personnel separate any grapes that are not in optimum condition.

After de-stemming and crushing, the grapes undergo a pre-fermentation cold maceration of between 4 and 6 days at 6-8°C to emphasize the primary aromas of the grape variety. After this process, the alcoholic fermentation/maceration gets underway, varying with each vintage, but never taking less than 25 days.

After maceration, 20% of the wine undergoes malolactic fermentation in barrels, with the remainder doing so in stainless steel tanks. This phase usually takes some 30 days. The wine is then racked and put into barrels (maximum barrel age: 2 years). 10% of the barrels are made from American oak, with the vast majority being French Oak. The ageing period lasts around 14 months for Tionio and around 6 months for Austum.

Finally, the wine is lightly filtered, maintaining its full complexity, and subsequently bottled. The bottled wines are kept in cellars maturing until they are ready to be released to the market.