Dominio de Es
La Diva

Vintage: 2018

Bottling: 16 June 2019.

Grand Cru vineyards on ungrafted root stock facing northwest which develop their potential over sandy and calcareous terroir protected by stone walls. Consequently, their heritage is preserved and the Tinto Fino and Albillo grapes offer their hallmarks.

La Diva has wild nature, remarkable race, a wine which will improve in the bottle due to its status as Grand Cru. These precious vineyards reduced in number and spoilt to the extreme produce around 600 bottles a year. This is the natural reason why this “rare avis” is aged.

Appellation: DO Ribera del Duero.

Varietal content: 95.2%Tinto Fino and 4.8% Albillo

Harvest: 10 October 2018

Alcohol: 14,0% Vol.

pH/acidity: 3.49-5.2 g/L TH2

Residual sugar: less than 2.05g/L

Vine features

Surface: 0,35 ha.

Exposure: North-East with moderate slope.

Terroir: Pure sand over calcareous rock.

Ungrafted root stock vineyards of Tinto Fino and Albillo.

Wine making

Vinification: 100% destemmed.

Spontaneous alcoholic fermentation in 1500-liter open wooden vats.

Macerations of 21 days with a very small and daily pumping with O2.

Ageing: 20 months in 228-liter-bourguignonne barrels of 2 and 3 wines.

Bottle production: 382 bottles, 19 Magnums and 1 Jeroboam.

Vintage as it was with well-defined seasons and generous rains

After the dry winters in 2016 and 2017, the winter in 2018 was generous in terms of rain at last!

Winter was long and cold. The first snow covered the whole north of Spain just before January 6. The last snows happened very late on 9 and 10 April. The typical winter in the Soria region is usually cold and very dry, in fact, the local people say that “the frost consume the water soil”. In 2018 the winter was cold and rainy with full of snow and also mists. These all ingredients were the ones to recover the water suppliers from the soil and the subsoil in the Soria fields!

In the middle of April the temperatures increased suddenly and provoked the sprouting which were registered on 27 April. Temperatures dropped to minus 3 oC on 1 and 13 May and destroyed the young and tender sprouts withtheir bunches. Luckily, the vines could effortless rebirth from the buds of the vine again.

The weather was still cold and rainy during May and June. As a consequence, the flowering of the vines was very late on 27 June and clearly giving way to “moon vintage”.

The mildew, a well-known disease in Bordeaux, Loire or Burgundy, appeared due to this great amount of rain. The last time mildew appeared was in Soria in 2006.

At the end of July, there were high temperatures from 35ºC to 39ºC. Consequently, there was a vegetative growth of the branches and we observed a dark green color on the leaves. However, in spite of the heat wave the vines did not suffer at all! The veraison had plenty of sunshine throughout August. Due to this late vegetation we had to improve the vine by removing lateral shoots in order to avoid a possible attack of botrytis.

A curious fact at the end of September: The vines had their typical red color on the leaves. That means the intention to mature at this time of the year. However, at the beginning of October I registered the disappearance of the red color and the return of the green color which predominates in June and is common during the vegetative cycle of the vine.

Another curious fact was the weight of the grapes. The average weight of the tinto fino grapes ranges from 2 to 2.2 grams. However, in 2018 the grapes were full of juicy pulp and their weight ranged from 2.7 to 3 grams as a consequence of the humidity.