Milénico, 2017

Milénico is an artisanal, organic and family-run winery of the Spanish DO Ribera del Duero. We are characterized by the minimization of non-natural intervention and attention to detail only possible in wines produced in limited series. In its origins are decisive three key factors: our dedication, the vineyards and the extreme continental climate of the Ribera del Duero. Previous generations of our family implanted in the Ribera del Duero have cultivated the vineyard and have produced and sold wine and wine spirits before and after the arrival of phylloxera in our area at the beginning of the 20th century. The last two generations expanded the area of vineyards and in 2012, two brothers of the family decided to make the leap to the elaboration of wines for commercialization always starting from our own grapes and under organic farming practices. Milénico has more than 20 hectares of vineyards distributed in more than 15 plots located within a radius of 15 kms, between San Martin de Rubiales, Roa de Duero and Fuentemolinos, with vineyards between 20 and 100 years old from different clones of the Tempranillo variety, in our area known as Tinto Fino but also combinations of Garnacha, Albillo, and other typical grapes appearing mixed in old vineyards. The vineyards are located either on the slopes on the right bank of the Duero, on slopes of about 20% on average, with perfect insolation and natural ventilation, or in the páramos (highlands) that surround the valley, at an altitude of about 900 meters. The soils are poor in organic matter and have a strong proportion of sand, making them very suitable for the vineyard. Due to the sedimentary character of the valley, we have a great heterogeneity of soils, with soils with alternating dominance of limestones, clays and sands, with and without stone and pebbles. The vineyards do not have artificial irrigation, which together with low rainfall naturally limits yields. The harvest is manual and a double manual selection of the grape is made, in the vineyard and in the winery. The grapes in the cellar are cooled, which allows us to cold macerate before starting the alcoholic fermentation with native yeasts. Our entire grape comes from vineyards that were either planted by our family or taken care of by us for many years. They follow the same organic practices of sustainable cultivation. In this way, we minimize the tillage and maintain organic cover when rainfall allows. We do not use herbicides, pesticides or chemical fertilizers, which allows the vineyard to be surrounded by a more complex natural environment, varied and alive, stronger and healthier in a natural way. The fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks of 3,000 litres capacity and in 500 litre barrels, which allows controlling individually the evolution of the grapes from multiple small plots. The process of cold maceration and fermentation usually takes about 4 weeks and later, all the wines carry out the malolactic fermentation, part in 225-litre barrels and the rest in steel tanks. Ageing is done with new and used French oak barrels from 225 litres to 500 litres for periods of between 12 and 24 months.