When one of the wines you make receives a good score from a critic like James Suckling, it is certainly great news. So imagine if that good score is extended to 6 of your wines. That is exactly what has happened to us at Bodega Sierra Norte. In case you don’t know Suckling, he is a famous American wine critic, former senior editor and European Bureau Chief of Wine Spectator. He is a world reference.
If this summer you are planning to visit any of the restaurants of the Paradores de Turismo in Spain, you should know that Pasión de Bobal red wine will be waiting for you to accompany your meal.
The friends of Fundación Asindown were this weekend with Alejandro Sanz, who received them during the two concerts that the singer has offered in Valencia. There they presented him with a case of the solidarity wines Genéticamente Rebeldes, which we make with great affection at the winery and whose profits go entirely to Asindown.
The new edition of the ADN Verema Wine Guide has already announced the wines that have entered its select club. At Bodega Sierra Norte we have received an excellent score for three of our wines, which have entered directly into the exclusive group of outstanding wines for this guide.
We really wanted to show you the new image of Fuenteseca wines, what do you think? It has been a great change! Now, on the label you can see an illustration of the vineyard where the grapes we use to make these wines are grown, the Fuenteseca de Camporrobles vineyard. The image also highlights the magnificent centenary pine tree that presides over the plot and which we take great care of so that it will be with us for at least another 100 years.
The illustrations also show a character who interacts with the insects in the vineyard, with the aim of studying and conserving them. In this way, we have tried to reflect the philosophy of sustainable and organic farming that we defend and practice, which is why all our wines are organic and vegan.
Happy! So we are… Because our wine Bercial Blanco Selección has been chosen by the DOP Utiel-Requena as one of the wines selected to represent the denomination of origin throughout the year 2022. The selection has been made by blind tasting by the DO’s tasting panel.
It is not the first time that our wines have been selected by the DOP Utiel-Requena in this competition, other wines such as Pasión de Bobal, have had this honour and have also repeated for several years, and it is something we are very proud of!
We had been biting our tongues for a few months to make sure we didn’t let slip that we had a new cava in our hands, and a very special one at that.
It is a rosé cava, organic and vegan, which is part of the Pasión Cuvée range of cavas. It is a brut cava with 9 months of ageing in the bottle that has turned out great. We have made it with two grape varieties, Pinot Noir and Garnacha, selected from the best plots. Once in the winery we have made a second selection and from these grapes we have only worked with the free-run juice, which is the first to be extracted after a light pressing, as it is the most aromatic and of the highest quality.
For the last few weeks we have been enjoying some very special wine tourists. They are boys and girls between 6 and 12 years old who we welcome thanks to the guided tours for schools that we organise at the winery in Requena and which are proving to be a great success.
We love to see how much fun they have and how much they learn in the workshops we prepare for them, which have the great objective of giving them a closer look at the rural world and the environmental, economic and social importance of the wine sector.
Our wine tourism team has had the support of teachers to adapt the activities and the didactic guide we give them to the curricular subjects of each age group.
Fuenteseca, gold medal in the category of young red wine. Bercial Ladera Los Cantos, gold medal in the category of red wine with more than 12 months in oak barrels. Bercial Blanco Selección, gold medal in the category of oaked white wine. These were our award-winning wines in the 7th FereVin Wine Competition, with a single prize in each category. In addition, we have been the most awarded winery, obtaining three of the 10 prizes awarded by the jury.
These prizes are awarded by FereVin, which is the Requena Wine Fair and, therefore, the participating wineries are all from the region. During two days, the tasting committee has evaluated all the wines presented and the final result has been very positive for our wines, once again this year.
The awards went to two very different wine profiles from those we make in Sierra Norte. Fuenteseca is our most affordable young wine, and Bercial, both white and red, are our premium wines, the most select, plot wines whose grapes are the best from our vineyards. Maintaining a balance in the quality and personality of the wines, whatever their price level or exclusivity, is something complicated, but at Sierra Norte we try to do it year after year. Seeing the result reflected in the competitions, from the hand of expert tasters, is really satisfying.
We have spent so many months working on the conception of these wines, that having them in front of us and being able to present them is a great satisfaction. Here you have Genéticamente Rebeldes, the solidarity wines with which you will be contributing to support Fundación Asindown with every purchase. Specifically, the contribution will go to the project ‘La Mare que va’, a space in La Marina de Valencia that will offer training in hospitality and catering to people with Down syndrome and intellectual disabilities, to contribute to their social and occupational integration.
Genéticamente Rebeldes red is a 100% organic and vegan Bobal, whose grapes come from old vines over 60 years old. This highly expressive wine is also aged for 6 months in French oak barrels. In tasting, the aromas are clearly of red and black fruits, with a touch of liquorice and light toasted notes from the barrel. A balanced wine with a very Mediterranean personality.
Genéticamente Rebeldes white is an organic and vegan wine made from a coupage in which the Verdejo grape predominates, with a percentage of Macabeo. It is an aromatically very expressive wine, with hints of white flowers, summer fruit, such as apricot, and citrus. It is particularly notable for its freshness and complexity, the result of a slight ageing in tank on its fine lees for two months.