The recent WineSeq® study. from the Californian company Biome Makers. certifies the exceptionality of the terroir of the Leonese winery Fuentes del Silencio. For having the greatest diversity in relation to more than 600 soils in Spain, Italy and the United States.
The Fuentes del Silencio vineyard has a unique microbiome because it is based on gold sediments. All of them formed by sandy-clayey conglomerates. It has a population of 959 different species identified.
The vineyard sits on an old gold mine. Which has been named by Biome Makers as “Auro Terroir”.
The report indicates that the microbial exceptionality of the winery may be due to practices that are respectful with the environment.
As well as the area where the vineyards are located. On the one hand, Fuentes del Silencio is committed to the recovery of abandoned vineyards.
The centenary vines Mencía, Prieto Picudo and Alicante Bouschet. Also colonized by the holm oak undergrowth. All this encourages the terrain to be wild. therefore, the microbial community has not been drastically modified.
The fact that the vineyards are located on gold-bearing sediments, involve the presence of bacteria - of the genera Thiobacillus, Acidiphilium. Leptospirillum, Ralstonia and Desulfotomaculum-. These are capable of oxidizing iron and sulfides, so they are related to the biogeochemical cycle of gold.
The Biome Makers study concludes by noting that the composition of the terroirs allows for “an exceptional metabolic environment. As well as that the vines can be nourished ”. All this leads to it being a differential factor.
Thus, the unique and balanced biodiversity of these soils indicates the good work done in favor of sustainability in the vineyard and the potential of the winery that. later, it will bottle all these advantages of the Jamúz Valley.
Fuentes del Silencio Winery
Fuentes del Silencio is located in the municipality of Herreros del Jamuz. The area is unique from a climatic and geological point of view. The large amount of water reserves caused it to be known in the past as "the town of fountains." The popular legacy that inspired the name of the winery.
Its facilities are located in the old town of the municipality, in houses that have been restored respecting the adobe and the original stone.
The adaptation to its new viticultural use has been developed following the same philosophy as for the production of wines: in an artisanal way, risky and with little intervention.
In addition to this property, Fuentes del Silencio also has a traditional Leonese winery -sculpted in the rock and in the middle of its vineyards-. In a recovered space ready for tastings and meetings.
