The restaurant at the petrol station in Pozoamargo (Cuenca, Castilla-La Mancha) is a centre of social life in DO Ribera del Júcar and the perfect place to meet up with local wine producers. Perched on a hill crowned by Nuestra Señora de la Cabeza chapel, the village also provides a good panoramic view of the region.
Vineyards extend on a flat plateau at an average elevation of 750 metres, barely interrupted by some hills and the canyon formed by the Júcar river to the west.
If we drew an imaginary line from the villages of Sisante, through Casas de Benítez and Casas de Guijarro to Casas de Haro, all of them in Ribera del Júcar, the DO would look like a fan. Behind the chapel, the terrain is slightly hilly, with limestone soils. Towards Sisante there are paleodunes, sandy-rich soils that were once covered by pine forests. But the dominant soil in the area are pebbles.
Saddled between La Mancha and Manchuela, DO Ribera del Júcar was established in 2003 to set itself apart from its massive neighbour and draw attention to the fact that most of their vineyards were planted to red grape varieties. This year marks the 20th anniversary of an appellation that, according to its president and owner of Bodegas y Viñedos Illana, Javier Prosper, has had very limited resources and means ever since it was born.
The region has the capacity to produce between 35m and 39m litres, but only around 800,000 litres are sold with the DO seal. Cooperatives are dominant in the area and a large part of the production is sold in bulk. At present, there are seven wineries with bottling facilities. "For the last 70 to 80 years, Ribera del Júcar has been actively selling to other areas," explains Juancho Villanueva, a technician at the Regulatory Board.
Another reason for the dearth of wines from Ribera del Júcar on the market is that a significant amount of wine is bottled as VT Tierra de Castilla or just as varietal wine. Local producers are also allowed to label their wines as DO La Mancha, although this is not a common practice.
In terms of climate and varieties, Ribera del Júcar has more in common with Manchuela than La Mancha. The area benefits from fresh easterly winds blowing up the river and temperature variations during the ripening stage, and its varieties are mainly red, predominantly Bobal. Yields, however, are practically the same as its largest neighbour: 10,140kg/ha for bush vines, both for white and red grapes (10,000kg in La Mancha), in contrast with quality-focused Manchuela, with 6,450kg/ha for red varieties in goblet-trained vineyards.
Out of almost 6,800 ha under vine, nearly 6,000 are planted to red grape varieties. Tempranillo dominates with upwards of 2,650ha, followed by Bobal, with just over 2,260. Among international varieties, Syrah stands out with 640ha.
In the past, Bobal was destined to bulk and ordinary reds, whereas the best wines were made from Tempranillo and international varieties. Now the tables are turning. In fact, Bobal has a stronghold in the area. Given its high resistance to drought (leaves are easily recognised for their downy underside), good acidity and low pH, Bobal is well placed to meet the current trend for fresh reds with character.
Although we have tasted some interesting Bobal reds from the area like those produced outside the DO by Aurelio García and Micaela Rubio (you can find out more on the article we published a few months ago), varietals still have little weight in terms of quantity. In 2017 only 15,732 litres of Bobal were sold separately under the Ribera del Júcar seal. In 2021 the figure climbed to 144,870 litres, but it is still far from being the region's main category.
One of the first to try and change things was Daniel Sevilla in Pozoamargo. Instead of chasing better opportunities elsewhere as many young locals do, this Logroño-trained oenologist, who was a classmate of María Santolaya (Roda) and Juan Valdelana (Bodegas Valdelana) in Rioja, took the plunge and, with the help of his family, set up his own winery in 2017, including a small restaurant with an outdoor terrace that is hugely popular in the summer. As over 30% wine is sold at the restaurant, the Sevilla family was able to cope with the pandemic. But they worked around the clock: the father at the grill, the mother, who is also the author of the paintings that adorn the labels, in the kitchen, and Daniel and his girlfriend Raquel who worked previously at Bodegas La Gitana waiting tables.
The winery is named Las Calzadas (the roads) after the Roman road that crossed through the village and connected Alcalá de Henares in Madrid to the coastal city of Cartagena in Murcia. They source their fruit from 8ha, mainly old vine Bobal, although the family own additional vineyards, most of them trellised. Jose Julián, Daniel’s father, worked for 20 years at Casa Gualda (Nuestra Señora de la Cabeza cooperative) and still carries his grapes there; the difference is that he has his own harvesting machine to pick his fruit.
With around 25,000 bottles produced, Las Calzadas is virtually the only small private winery in the DO. It is actually modelled on the early 20th century family cellars that gradually disappeared when cooperatives concentrated wine production in the area. The same applies to the style of the wines, which are fermented with natural yeasts and aged in tinajas (the local name for clay jars) -stainless steel tanks and plastic bins are also used during fermentation.
Producing around 12,000 bottles, Tinácula Bobal (tinacula is Latin for tinaja) is an honest, direct wine that genuinely speaks of the region with spiced fruit, the variety’s distinctive punch and an earthy, slightly rustic background that adds character. The family also make Tinácula X, a blend of Bobal and Tempranillo, a white made from the local Pardina variety aged briefly in tinaja and their top El Santillo, an aromatic, evocative field blend.
Illana, the area's leading private winery producing some 700,000 litres a year, has also seen Bobal’s potential. Located also in Pozoamargo, wine is the mainstay of a 400ha farming estate that has been in the same family since 1626. The 94 ha of trellised vines coexist with cereals, almond trees and vegetable crops, all of which are organically certified since 2020. Regarding varieties, Tempranillo leads the way alongside international grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc, Petit Verdot and Sauvignon Blanc. Bobal covers 18ha and some Garnacha Tintorera (Alicante Bouschet) has also been planted.
While Javier Prosper runs the estate, his wife Carolina Hernández, a self-confessed Bobal enthusiast, looks after winemaking. "The acidity that Bobal can achieve in this climate is pretty surprising," she says, while praising its adaptation to dry, extreme conditions. Hernández says it has cherry aromas and a distinctive mineral note reminiscent of graphite. She has experimented with ageing Bobal in tinaja and chestnut casks for the new Terrera de Illana range, whilst continuing to make Casa de Illana Bobal de Parcela in the best vintages following its first release in the 2014 vintage. In addition, Bobal is playing a bigger role in the range of blended reds such as Illana Selección and Tres de Cinco.
Most of the Bobal vineyards, including old vines, are in the hands of cooperative members. These days, most of the cooperatives have at least a varietal Bobal on the market, yet the resulting wines vary according to their capacity to select and ferment separately.
The true jewel of Ribera del Júcar, and a powerful appeal to outsiders, are the stony pebbly soils, similar to the galets of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. They not only retain the sun's heat during the night, but also preserve moisture and prevent evaporation. In general, soils are deep with plenty of clay that retains water and sand and stones on the surface. The limestone bedrock can emerge in elevated spots, making vines less vigorous and allowing for different and varied expressions.
Such soils have particularly drawn the attention of Valtravieso, a leading producer in Ribera del Duero which includes a Bobal from Ribera del Júcar in its new project Viñedos Olvidados (Forgotten Vineyards). This was partly possible due to the familiarity of its technical director, Ricardo Velasco, with the region. It is also worth noting that Valtravieso has no qualms when it comes to price -the wine sells for over €30.
Viñedos Olvidados also raises awareness about the danger of losing traditional vineyards in an area where grubbing up vines is not only a matter of low productivity, but also of increased labour demands in goblet vineyards and, increasingly, the cost and difficulties of finding workers to hand-pick the grapes. Add to this the region's productive structure, more oriented to volume than to painstakingly produce wines capable of fetching prices in accordance with the value of the vineyards they come from. The first steps are being taken, but a great deal more is needed to preserve the region’s wine heritage.
Las Eras 2020, Cooperativa de San Ginés
13.5% abv.
€6
Fresh, with generous aromatic herbs (lavender) and some oak notes from its six months in barrel, but the variety does come through. Savoury on the palate. The kind of wine you would expect when you travel to a new place and ask for a local red.
Tinácula 2021, Bodegas Las Calzadas
14% abv.
€9.90
Featuring Bobal’s characteristic punch on the nose, with blackberries and cherries and herbal notes on the background. The palate is fresh and moreish with a rustic edge. A benchmark in the area skillfully aged in traditional tinajas.
Vega Moragona Bobal Viñas de Casas de Haro 2019
La Magdalena, Sociedad Cooperativa
15% abv.
€12
With some 300,000 bottles produced, the Casas de Haro cooperative is the largest bottling operation in the DO. Their Bobal 60's cuvée comes from older vines but the oak is more evident so we prefer this one, with black fruit and spicy notes (black pepper), polished tannins, pleasant freshness and intriguing mineral notes (graphite) on the finish. And it is great to see the name of the village on the label.
Casa de Illana Bobal de Parcela 2019
13.5% abv.
€23.50
Aged in barrel for 14 months followed by two years in bottle, this vintage is not yet on release. It offers a refined expression of Bobal with black pepper aromas, a hint of gunpowder and fully ripe fruit. On the palate it feels balanced, finely textured and with well-integrated oak. 2,500 bottles have been produced.
Mil Cantos Bobal 2019
Valtravieso
15% vol.
€34
2019 is the first Bobal vintage for Valtravieso. After just 10 days vatting with very little extraction, the wine was aged in 500-litre barrels. It reflects the grape's distinctive freshness and brio on the nose, with good acidity and high concentration on the palate, so it will benefit from some cellaring. The blend includes a small percentage of Airén (5%) which has jumped to 15% in the 2021 vintage seeking more fluidity. The bottle is beautifully presented.
Bobal is a Spanish specialty that has remained within its borders. However, since 1990, its surface under vine has practically halved. In its two main fiefdoms, Castilla-La Mancha and Valencia, it has dropped from almost 60,000ha to 32,000ha and from almost 45,000ha to 23,000ha respectively.
In addition to DO Ribera del Júcar, where Bobal accounts for around 33% of its production, this variety is also present in neighbouring DO Manchuela (32%) and DO Utiel-Requena in Valencia province (67%).
Last year the three appellations joined forces to hold a joint tasting at Fenavin wine fair in Ciudad Real offering a much-needed global overview of the grape variety and its terroirs. We hope that similar initiatives will follow.
You can read more about Bobal on this article.
