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Wine Description
The Story
Pesquera Tinto Reserva is made from 100% Tempranillo grapes, aged in American oak barrels for 24 months and then a further 12 months in the bottle.
Pesquera wines are always made from the whole fruit, after destemming. Temperature controlled fermentation lasts two to three weeks. Afterwards, and without clarifying, the grape pulp is directly transferred to an astute and subtle combination of French and American oak barrels that have been subject to various degrees of toasting. Where, in between frequent pump-overs, the wines are left to stand. Tinto Pesquera wines are aged in oak for 18 months while Reservas and Grandes Reservas are aged for no less than 24 months.
The history of Familia Fernández Rivera began with the ingenuity of Alejandro Fernández and Esperanza Rivera, as well as the hard work and unity of a family. Together they created—according to Robert Parker—one of the best wines in the world. The group now boasts four wineries. At present, its wines and products are sold in more than 70 countries. Tinto Pesquera is a pioneer in Tempranillo winemaking methods. The wine was given this name in honour of Pesquera de Duero, the town where the winery is located and where Alejandro and Esperanza were born. Tinto Pesquera is the gold standard for wines from this region.
A must-try red wine to fully understand the DO Ribera del Duero. The character of Familia Fernández Rivera is embodied by this forthright wine, brimming with fruit at its best, delicate wood notes and elegant tannins. Tinto Pesquera Crianza is cherry red in colour. On the nose intense aromas of dark fruits together with wood notes. Hints of fallen leaves and spices such as vanilla. In the mouth smooth entry becomes lush with abundant ripe tannins. The presence of well-integrated oak aromas compliments the fruit and spice beautifully. It has an excellent balance between its acidity and heat. The finish is long-lasting, refined and elegant.
Wine Information
Bodegas Alejandro Fernández has 200 hectares of top quality vineyards, where the grapes are grown to make its Tinto Pesquera red wine. These vineyards soak up the heat of the sun in a site surrounded by pebbles and poor soil.
In 1972, Alejandro Fernández decided to take advantage of the land and create a wine that would surely do it proud – and this was how Tinto Pesquera came into being.
The 1982 vintage was one of the best in living memory. This lead Alejandro Fernández to carrying out a unique wxperience: making two different wines from the same grapes. Firstly, he took half the bunches and placed then whole onto the old dtone wine press to make wine in the traditional way. Then he de-stemmed the remaining grapes and fermented them in the winery's stainless steel tanks.
Both wines satisfied their maker. The first wine, which was made in the traditional way, was only sold in Spain. The second, however, was the first Pesquera wine to be exported and opened up the way to the winery's worldwide renown in the wine world.
But Alejandro wanted to go just a little bit further. He mixed the last 2000 litres of each kind of wine in equal measures and placed the resulting wine to "rest" for three years in old American oak barrels. The end result was a totally unique, extraordinarily comölex and balanced wine bottled in 1986 that was different from the rest.
The wine was named "Janus" after the Roman god of doors, thresholds, communication routes and anything that has a beginning.
It is impossible to speak of modern Spanish wine without mentioning the key role that Alejandro Fernández played in shaping it. The wines that people drank in Spain at the time he created Tinto Pesquera were nothing like the wines we enjoy today. They were classic reds, rather colourless, with little body and a distinctly woody flavour. The wine that Alejandro produced was of another class altogether. It was of a darker, deep red colour rather than the usual brick-red shade and it was an intense wine, more fruity than woody in nature. It was heavy in tannin and designed to keep for many years in the bottle. It was an original wine that at first seemed too much of a risk with features that came as a surprise to everyone. But just over 20 years later, it is the basis for many of the great Spanish wines.
Alejandro Fernández provides a simple explanation for why he produced such a distinctive wine. "Wines like this with greater body and colour had always been produced in Pesquera and I wanted to continue the tradition while improving on it: harvesting the grapes on time, selecting the right grapes, making the wine well and ensuring that the woodiness does not outstrip the fruitiness."
During the earliest years, Fernández made wine with a small press, which he has kept to this day. It was only in 1982 that that he started using stainless steel vats, which Alejandro and his family set up in the old workshop, a custom that has lasted to the present day.