1998 Viña Pedrosa Crianza (Ribera del Duero)

The Perez Pascuas brothers offered delightfully fruit-driven wines in the early '80s; under the winemaking direction of Jose Manuel Perez Ovejas this bodega has moved to an even higher level. The estate owns 100 hectares of vines, 95 of which are in production, and does not buy fruit. There are vines here up to 60 years old, with the average age around 23 years. Average production is barely 30 hectoliters per hectare, or about one kilo of grapes per vine, says Perez Ovejas, adding that the seven hectares of oldest vines produce much less.x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D The estate does a "pre-selection" in early September, removing the less-ripe grapes. The fruit is then harvested late for high grape sugars and maximum polyphenols. Vinification generally begins with an eight-day pre-fermentation maceration (the must is chilled to around 12oC); there are also about ten days of further maceration following the end of the fermentation itself. The goal is strong extraction of color; today Pedrosa wines are more concentrated and corpulent than ever before, with riper tannins-a formula Perez Ovejas says will give them longer life. Since he began vinifying in 1989, the malolactic fermentation has occurred in barriques The barrels are rotated every three years: the wines begin in brand-new oak, then spend six months or so in two-year-old casks (a blend of 60% American and 40% French). Bottling is done without fining or filtration. The selection of grapes for the bodega's various wines is by age of vines, not by parcel, notes Perez Ovejas.x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D Perez Ovejas is determined to avoid the TCA problems that plague so many cellars in the region. He was one of the first to switch from wood pallets to stainless steel for bottle storage. There are no wood surfaces in his spotless cellar (except the barrels, of course), and no chlorine products are used to wash the floors. The barrel cellar maintains a constant 14oC, and Perez Ovejas prefers a lower humidity to avoid TCA, even though this can cost up to 5% of the wine lost to evaporation. The bodega is not looking to increase production but will eventually phase out its tinto joven as the younger vines mature.