The Wine Advocate, the world’s most influential wine guide, has published the scores for Ribera del Duero wines.
Luis Gutiérrez, Parker’s taster for Spain, Chile and Argentina, takes an in-depth look at the region:
“Larger wineries also have their eyes on the region, like many from here are also expanding into Rioja. Rioja’s CVNE is dipping its toes into Ribera del Duero with the creation of a new project, Bela, in the village of Villalba de Duero very close to Aranda de Duero in the province of Burgos. They had purchased the winery from Anta Banderas, a winery that had among its investors the actor Antonio Banderas. They kept the facilities and part of the vineyards and discarded all the rest and renamed the project Bela, the nickname of Sofía Real de Asúa, who is the daughter of one of CVNE’s founders. The labels are remakes of their Monopole label from early 20th century. They have 74 hectares of vineyards that belonged to the project and purchased nine more hectares in five plots of 25-year-old vines in the neighboring Moradillo de Roa from where they make their wine Arano. The goal is to make characterful wines with a fine style and restraint rather than big international reds. They want to add a third wine when they find a vineyard, possibly in a different village. They now produce 250,000 liters of wine, approximately 330,000 bottles”.