Bodega Soledad was founded in 1969 by 59 local farmers with a combined production of 2,000 tonnes of grapes. The construction work was financed with a loan from the so called Work Protection Fund amounting to 6 million pesetas.

The winery was born with the aspiration to be present in international markets. Export activity began in the 80s. At the same time steel tanks and cooling systems were introduced as a way to maintain and improve the quality of the final produce.

Currently Bodega Soledad processes more than 20 million kilos of grapes annually, depending on the crop. These are contributed by 280 producers, owners of a total of more than 2,400 hectares. Over 75% of production is exported.

The grapes are mostly manually harvested; mechanical harvest is less common and it is conducted at night in order to control fruit temperature and always under technical supervision.

The winery can process and then store up to 28 million kilogrammes of grapes. For that purpose we use stainless steel tanks, self emptying tanks and controlled temperature fermentation stainless steel tanks.

The lot of barrels of American and French oak is renewed on a regular basis. The winery has its own bottling line and finished product warehouse.

Since the grapes are still in the vineyard through to the preparation of the final product, a comprehensive quality control system is observed. Soledad winery is certified to ISO 9001.

The Barros family has grown Albariño grapes since the 1970s. At that time the Regulatory Council had not been formed and grape production was done informally on tiny plots of land. José Barros planted 100,000 m2 of vines, which at that time was one of the most decisive commitments to the Albariño variety as well as one of the largest vineyards in Galicia.

After the creation of the Denomination of Origin, the winery was founded under the name Maior de Mendoza, after a family’s commitment to a land and its history, as Lady Maior de Mendoza was the wife of Fernando Mariño de Lobera Monterrei y Soutomaior who, among other titles, held that of Lord of Trabanca after which the location of the bodega is named.

From the very beginning their philosophy has been based on getting the best out of the Albariño variety, taking care of it with the greatest respect for the environment, and maximum professionalism. Their objective has always been to understand the rhythm of the vineyard, the grape and the wine, adapting all of their working processes to them. This philosophy underlies, and is reflected in, all of their work procedures, and has always been more than a job; it is a way of life. They believe that only in this way, from their passion for this marvellous variety, can a decisive commitment to quality be made.

Major de Mendoza’s plots comprises their own supervised vineyards. They look for granitic–sandy pieces of land, protected from the north wind, on gentle sloping hillsides. This allows drainage and provides plantation frames with wide pathways to aid ventilation.

They have been pioneer in integrated production programs and work without using herbicides or environmentally-unfriendly products. All pruning, thinning, defoliation, harvests, etc. is performed without machines, and with the greatest respect for the vine and low yields.

Work on the different plots is done in different ways depending on their needs as determined by the vintner’s experienced and highly trained technical team, as each plot has its own rhythm and special features.

Antigua Usanza works with passion and dedication in the municipality of San Vicente de la Sonsierra in La Rioja to offer the best wines. In Antigua Usanza they create an entire universe around wine.

They conceive each bottle of wine as unique, an authentic work of art able to satisfy the highest expectations. In their cellar they transmit all the care, attention an tradition of their know-how into the wines they produce. Without any doubt, the best reward for them is the confidence of people who choose quality wines, such as those produced by Antigua Usanza,

Their cellar, more than 15 metres underground, has borrowed 1,200 square metres from the rock to hold their best wines. It is an enclave in which the impermeability of the rock, its great hardness and beauty when cut, create a privileged space for maturing wine. Within these solid walls, their wines absorb all the natural richness of the land where they are born. Their wine is defined, more than anything, by the land in which it is born.

Antigua Usanza is fortunate in being exceptionally well located in the heart of La Rioja Alta, the region that has always been considered birthplace of prestigious wines.

Like a crossroads, the cellar is in the municipality of San Vicente de la Sonsierra, surrounded by landscape with strong contrast. To north of the region one will find the craggy peaks of Sierra Cantabria, while in the south, the river Ebro flowa easily through the extensive plains.

The geographical diversity of the area in which Antigua Usanza’s vineyards are located provides a varied climate that offers ideal conditions for vine growing. The clayey-calcareous soils of this area add distinction to their wines.

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.