Description
Ribera del Duero ‘Antidoto’ Bertrand Sourdais 2019
Bertrand Sourdais, Ribera del Duero, Castilla y León
“[…] the wines from Bertrand Sourdais from Sourdais y Hernando and Dominio de ES, two young projects that have had a short but very positive evolution.” Luis Gutiérrez, The Wine Advocate March 2017
After being Dominio de Atauta’s winemaker for several years and establishing the bodegas to the highest level, Bertrand Sourdais has returned to his native Loire region to take over the family property. However, his love and passion for the Ribera del Duero is still intact and he has now created ‘Antidoto’, a toned down version of Dominio de Atauta, sourced from 7 hectares of ancient vineyards, which are at least 60 years old (many date back to pre-phylloxera!). Bertrand’s extensive CV includes stints with Alvaro Palacios, as well as at Château Léoville Las-Cases and Château Mouton Rothschild. His work centres around a little village called San Esteban de Gormaz, 70km west of the town of Soria. High, dry, cold and very remote, the vineyards are organically grown and biodynamically farmed at around 1,000m above sea level with 50% owned and 50% rented, consisting of almost 200 separate small plots. Different soils are vinified separately and then blended before barrel ageing. 50% of the wine hails from the village of Soto de San Esteban (west of San Esteban de Gormaz) – mainly sand and river stone soils, with no limestone. North of San Esteban de Gormaz are the hamlets of Matanza and Villalvaro, where the soils are red clay over limestone and these make up 20% of the blend. The balance is from sand-limestone soils in San Esteban itself, Quintanilla de tres Barios to the north and Mino de San Esteban to the south. The fruit is carefully sorted and destemmed, then given a short, cool 8-10 days fermentation in concrete vats, with the aim of achieving a gentle, delicate extraction. The wine then spends 10 months in 2-5 year old French barriques (ex Château Haut-Brion). The aim is to make a wine, which Bertrand calls “sensible – pure and direct”.
Sourced from the very best vineyard sites in Ribera del Duero using vines which are at least 60 years old (many date back to pre-phylloxera!). As a result of being matured for 12 months in barrels used to make the 2 wines of Haut Brion, Antidoto is an opulent, extraordinary wine with juicy, plush blackberries and plum characters and undertones of spicy cracked black pepper and earth. Savoury tannins and a long persistent finish.
Grape:100% Tinta Fina
