History
The Arzuaga winery is in Valladolid, in the heart of the Ribera del Duero Designation of Origin. The wines come from La Planta, an estate belonging to the Arzuaga family in Quintanilla de Onésimo, in the province of Valladolid. This is an excellent location for vine-growing, as the plants receive the sun and moisture they need for the grapes to ripen perfectly.
There can be no doubt that Arzuaga wines are made based on three premises: the soil, the climate and the orientation of the vineyards.
The local flora and fauna coexist perfectly with the vines in La Planta.
The flora includes pines, holm oaks and savin juniper, and, among the animals are wild boars and red deer. This coexistence clearly shows the love the Arzuaga family feels for the natural world. The estate covers 1,400 hectares (3,500 acres) in a wonderful location in the heart of the Ribera del Duero Designation of Origin area: its Golden Mile.
It was at the beginning of the 1990s when, after buying La Planta estate, Florentino Arzuaga began planting vines, building the winery and, of course, making wine.
The Vineyard
Care begins in the vineyard, because it is impossible to make a good wine without healthy, high-quality grapes. We ensure that yield is very limited, associated with the low fertility of the soils and the tough Castilian climate. If production is too high, the wine loses quality and the flavour is less concentrated. The excellent quality of the grapes – an essential ingredient of good wine, the care with which the vines are looked after and a passion for hard work have earned Arzuaga wines a fine reputation in the Ribera del Duero Designation of Origin.
For Arzuaga, quality is fundamental and this is the area where most care is taken.
The Arzuaga Winery has 210 hectares (520 acres) of vineyards distributed between the immediate surroundings of the winery and the natural area of La Planta estate. The Arzuaga vineyards enjoy a unique climate: sunshine and clear skies in the daytime and cool, damp nights. This climatic combination means the grapes ripen slowly but perfectly, producing healthy fruit with plenty of colour, full of sugar and aromatic acidity. In this region of Castile, where low fertility is a feature of the soils, the Tinto Fino or Tempranillo variety is grown, together with the French grapes Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. 80% of the vineyards are more than 20 years old, with a production of more or less 4,000 kg/ha. Bodegas Arzuaga also has vineyards outside the province of Valladolid, in Malagón, in Ciudad Real, where its Pago Florentino wine is made.
