Conde de los Andes, born in the light of the landscape

Dawn light paints the clear rocks on the top of Toloño mountain. Then the nocturnal animals retreat to their dens and a pair of vultures takes flight from their nest in Peña las Heces.

A day of early summer begins in the vineyards of Briñas, more than 500 meters high. The Ebro valley, at their foot, is lighting up in subtle colors while the coolness of the morning spreads its last halo over the old vines.

The surroundings of these vineyards, where the Conde de los Andes wines come from, show the healthy aspect of a landscape of the past: a puzzle of small parcels, as diverse as the orientations of the valley.

This place exposed to the light of the whole day keeps the essences of an ancient viticulture: old vines, many of them grown in goblet bush system, cared by hand, individually. The vines are mainly Tempranillo and in the heads of each row, vines of the white Viura variety were planted many years ago. The tillage that we carry out in these plots is meticulous and respects the health and structure of the clay-calcareous soil.

Now, in the first summer days, it is time to do some incipient thinning, to remove leaves and branches and concentrate all the plant strength in the development of the clusters, whose berries have already reached the expected pea size. Their evolution won't stop and, in a few weeks, the grapes will change their color, in a process so-called veraison.

A wine made from a wonderful landscape

Sometimes we take a bottle to the vineyard and open it in the last rows, close to the wild slope. The suggestive atmosphere is surely crucial: in the specific place of its origin, the wine seems to deliver aromas of small flowers and the dry and essential fragrance of woody bushes, such as broom and rockrose.

The Conde de los Andes red wine is 100% Tempranillo and has a cherry-like colour, of great intensity. Its aroma is also very intense, with notes of red fruits, ripe plums and the memory of the Mediterranean forest that surrounds the vineyards. In the mouth it is a deep wine, with a very good structure. It stands out for its balance and its elegant personality. Its power and finesse make many people colloquially define it in Spanish as a "vinazo", a wine of power, persistence and character.

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