From the almost complete Ribera del Duero Excellent wines come out of any of the winery families that work in the region. However, there is a very unique farm decorated by unique strains located in an area winegrowing privileged. Its the San Cobate Wineries, whose name keeps as much historical tradition as the lands that allow to obtain some very particular wines, along the 80 hectares of agricultural surface. The one that is drawn wavy from start to finish, even by scales, creating a magical visual postcard. Here we describe in more detail what this characteristic place is like.
Monasterial past
The wine lands that there are currently do not treasure an enormously traditional origin, contrary to what happens in the number of Spanish plots. Those whose vines come from many years ago and have not been modified by passing from generation to generation. The case is different in this area located in the triangle formed by the municipalities of La Aguilera, Gumiel de Mercado and La Horra, all from the province of Burgos. The now vineyards of San Cobate Wineries They were owned by a monastery in the XNUMXth century, whose Benedictine monks cultivated a variety of fruit trees, aromatic plants and even a vegetable garden. There was no missing vineyard, of course.
Time passed and that monasterial past came to an end when the monks moved to the town of Santo Domingo de Silos. Then, their place of residence was abandoned as well as the agricultural land. Little by little, what would later become the Monzón town. Your current hermitage -that can be seen when visiting the wine estate- was built with the stones of the same monastery. That which is already history but has given the name to the current winery family settled there.
The magic is in the land
This specific wine region is considered one of the most unique of Ribera del Duero for its orographic aspects that structure a beautiful landscape. The plots that are there are privileged for the vineyard because of the diversity of soils and orientations that favor the obtaining of inimitable wines. Observing in the image the shape offered by the terraces is visually extraordinary. The vines that are planted there have an average age of 40 years. They are surrounded by pines, holm oaks, different aromatic plants and a low-lying area of mountains.
Precisely the altitude of that area of 80 wine hectares ranges from 830 meters to 900 meters. Now the magic of Bodegas San Cobate are their different types of soils for cultivation. In the lower part (flat) they are clayey-silty with some sand. This makes it possible to produce wines with very clean aromas of the Tempranillo variety, the quintessential Ribera del Duero grape. Later, at a higher elevation, that same characteristic terrain mixes with a limestone soil until it reaches peat and sand in the upper part. All these calcareous lands they give the product a more pronounced quality.
Wines from Bodegas San Cobate
With elegant notes, greater finesse and much more complex flavors but also a long longevity, the wines of this wine family benefit from a interesting variability. That of the expression of the grape that receives the particularities of the land where it grows. In a very small area, the different orientations help to create unique bottles. This is how they were already born San Cobate 2017 and San Cucufate Monastery 2016, the first two oenological samples of the project led by Antonio Vazquez.
The businessman who also wears the Vamuca hotel group wants to reflect in these two wines the maximum respect for the personality of the area. As well as its different soils, the grape varieties (Tinto Fino and Tempranillo) and even a rather mild barrel aging. He wants the fruit to be more protagonist. To achieve its two wine products, it has recovered the traditional ways of production, in addition to implementing the style douro Portuguese.
In conclusion, after you already know the singularity and magic that characterize San Cobate Wineries, we encourage you to taste one of its two wines.
