Marqués de Cáceres

In 1970, Enrique Forner founded Marqués de Cáceres, Unión Vitivinícola, S.A., a historic Alliance between a region (Cenicero, La Rioja Alta), an enterprising family that has been devoted to the wine trade for five generations, the best vine growers and vineyards in La Rioja and a Bordeaux concept which revolutionised the production and business model with a single objective: the quality to obtain the best wines, an obsession that today continues to be the leitmotif of Cristina Forner, the fifth generation of this distinguished wine family.

In 1975, Marqués de Cáceres started selling its first red wines, the 1970 Crianza and the 1975 Gran Reserva. Compared with the classic Riojas dominated by woody notes and on the verge of oxidation, Enrique Forner offered lively Riojas in which the fruit stood out over the oak, but respecting both the traditional multi-varietal composition dominated by the tempranillo grape and the preference for storing the world’s great wines for long periods. He also updated the whites and rosés which he moved away from the wood in order to offer the full sensations of youth, aromas and fruits. In 1980, he reorganised the commercial distribution network in Spain and Marqués de Cáceres arrived on the tables of every corner of the country.

In the 1990s, a trend for innovation prevailed in La Rioja. Young enologists and wine-producers took inspiration from Bordeaux, just as Enrique Forner had done twenty years previously, and worked the ‘terroir’, the vineyard, to obtain profiles that were different to the traditional Riojas. Marqués de Cáceres, advised by Michel Rolland, the most influential enologist in Bordeaux at the time, were united by a great obsession: the quality of the wines. In 1996, the third vinification unit was opened, to be used exclusively for top wines, and in 1999, Gaudium was launched from the 1994 vintage, which opened a new line of Marqués de Cáceres wines, using the oldest vines in Cenicero, from the original suppliers in 1970 who set out on the adventure with Enrique Forner and the majority of which, or their descendants, are still with us today.

A further demonstration of the work, dedication, respect for the practices of a hundred-year-old agriculture, of the constant support for these very limited plots of  La Rioja which only businesses with criteria and history still maintain in order to obtain wines like Gaudium.

Wine is made in the vineyard. This is a particularly widespread saying in the wine world, and whilst it is not without truth, at Marqués de Cáceres we believe that the winery, technology and a large, rigorous technical team are equally important in order to guarantee the quality of the final product irrespective of the clemency or inclemency of each year.

Since it was founded, Marqués de Cáceres has had a guaranteed supply of grapes in privileged areas of high-quality vineyards, principally located in areas of the Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa sub-regions, and particularly in the town of Cenicero where the winery is situated. Our technical teams are responsible for monitoring and supervising the vine growing tasks with the aim of ensuring the highest quality of the fruit harvested each year.

In many cases, the vines are over thirty years old and it is mainly the Tempranillo (red) and Viura (white) varieties that guarantee the grapes required to make the highest quality wines. Every year, the Technical Management team at the winery establishes a strict calendar for when the grapes are to be harvested and enter the winery, according to the findings of visits made to the vineyards, tastings of the samples obtained and the ripening tests performed in the laboratory.

Alcoholic fermentation is a natural process through which the yeasts (Saccharomyces Cerevisiae) transform the sugar in the grape must into two main products, ethanol and carbon dioxide, and into small amounts of many other substances, thereby obtaining wine.

In red wines, following strict grape selection, the woody part is separated in order to avoid herbaceous flavours and the must is placed in stainless steel tanks with the skins (containing the anthocyanins, tannins and aromas which will determine the characteristics of the future wines) in order to ferment. During the fermentation process, the maximum colouring and polyphenol properties are extracted from the grape skin through continual ‘pumping over’ so as to ensure the fine ageing that characterises our wines. This extraction is boosted by the temperature, as such 30ºC is the chosen temperature for grapes from the first selection and 25ºC is the temperature selected for grapes which are to be used in making younger wines.

In the case of white and rosé wines, the must is macerated with the skins for a few hours in order to obtain the aromas contained in them. The solid parts are subsequently separated and the must obtained is clarified, removing the small particles that may have remained in suspension. Finally, the musts ferment in stainless steel tanks, in a specific cellar for white and rosé wines, at a temperature of no more than 18ºC. White and rosé wines owe their final quality to their aromatic smoothness, obtained from both the primary aroma of the grapes and the secondary aroma which comes from the fermentation process.

The second fermentation is malolactic fermentation. White and rosé wines, defined by their freshness, fruitiness and slight acidity do not undergo malolactic fermentation. In the case of red wines, this second fermentation is fundamental to the elegance and smoothness of Marqués de Cáceres wines. The process involves the transformation of malic acid (which is green and sharp, like that in unripe apples) into lactic acid, resulting in a significant modification of the organoleptic qualities of the wine, which is highly relevant to the subsequent ageing process.

Oxygen

Oxygen is wine’s worst enemy, yet at the same time it is the main element in the evolution of a wine over time. Controlling it is fundamental, as this dictates the correct evolution of the wine over time. Our techniques ensure the balanced management of oxidation, improving the colour, aromas and structure, achieving fresh, fruity, rounded wines that are easy to drink.

Barrels

Enrique Forner, the founder of Marqués de Cáceres, was a pioneer in the introduction of French oak for ageing wines in La Rioja. The winery selects different barrels and different toasting levels for each type of wine, and has a total of over 30,000 barrels with a capacity of 225 litres (60% French oak and 40% American oak). The barrels are regularly replaced in order to ensure the availability of barrels which are suitable for the ageing needs of the different wines produced. Oak is the fundamental element in oxidative ageing. During its time in the barrel, wine micro-oxygenates through the oak staves of the barrel and takes on the tannins and aromas typical of the oak, which give it body, aromatic complexity and smoothness. Every six months, the technical team removes the wine from the barrel (racking) in order to separate the sediment and check the evolution of the wine through tasting, rejecting those which have not evolved appropriately. The period of time in the barrel depends on each type of wine (crianza, reserva, gran reserva) as well as the specific characteristics of each year, usually ranging between 12 and 24 months.

Bottle

Bottle-ageing is fundamental to Marqués de Cáceres, with the aim of completing the ageing process and guaranteeing the smoothness and elegance of its wines. The winery has three storage racks with a capacity for almost 10 million bottles. That is how the roundness and elegance of all their aged red wines is obtained with the aim of ensuring that the consumer can enjoy them from the moment they are purchased.