What makes a Spanish red wine a work of art?

Low-bush vines, four years’ careful nurturing in oak and one winemaker’s artisanal philosophy have led European collectors to award 99 points out of 100 to a tempranillo vintage

Great-quality grapes aren’t all it takes when it comes to making world-class wines. Just ask the Valduero family, whose careful craftsmanship and respect for the land has secured its winery’s spot as one of the most prestigious in Spain.

But how is it that Valduero has risen through international rankings to become one of the best wineries in the world?

Yolanda García Viadero, a member of the vineyard’s founding family, believes it’s the producer’s unique philosophy that sets it apart. Valduero aims to turn each bottle of wine into its own work of art – and this approach is revealed in every step of the winemaking process.

It starts in the upland of Ribera del Duero, where all the vineyards are located. Here, excellent soil conditions are combined with a viticulture that takes great care of the environment.

Valduero does not irrigate its vineyards, avoiding the use of fertilisers or chemicals. Instead it incorporates a bold commitment to traditional viticulture in its winemaking, solely relying on nature to provide what’s needed.

Yolanda organises a selection of tempranillo racemes – unbranched clusters of inflorescence on the plants – in each vineyard. Depending on the year and its climatic characteristics – which she calls “excellence” – Yolanda then chooses the racemes she considers unique from the very low yields of each vine.

This careful consideration at every stage has a clear result: award-winning artisanal wines, such as Valduero Una Cepa Premium.

This complex red is a product of the low-bush vineyards that Yolanda tends. Production is 100 per cent handcrafted and artisan, never touched by a machine. The wine is aged in barrels of high-quality wood, and passes through oak from different sources for four years, acquiring their various nuances.

This experimentation with different woods is a process 20 years in the making, which Yolanda describes as “slow cooking – the creation of art”, and the end product is nothing short of that.

With an intense garnet colour and notes of black fruit, blackberry and fruit compote, Una Cepa Premium is an elegant, well-defined wine. The accolades say so too.

Valduero Una Cepa Premium was tasted by three European collectors in April: David Krautheim, Nish Pandya and Mauricio Roca. Together with the first Spanish master of wine, Pedro Ballesteros, they awarded it 99 points out of 100.

In its 2011 vintage, collectors also awarded Valduero Una Cepa Premium 99 points out of 100, highlighting its potential to improve in the bottle for at least another decade.

And Wine Enthusiast awarded the vintage a whopping 97 points out of 100 – the ratings speak for themselves really.

Valduero Una Cepa Premium is only made in special vintages, and its editions are very limited. It is a privilege to uncork a magnificent 12-year-old bottle. When asked for her favourites, Yolanda doesn’t hesitate: “The 2010 and 2011. And the Valduero Una Cepa Premium of 2015.”

Yolanda is convinced that fashions pass, but excellence endures, and this can surely be said of the exceptional wines produced by Valduero.