2021 Alejandro Fernández Dehesa La Granja

In terms of success, only Vega Sicilia from Ribera del Duero can compete with the Pesquera wines of Alejandro Fernández. Fernández makes wines of a rich and exceptional character at relatively realistic prices, and he is therefore the archetype of a 'success story' in modern times. Born in 1932, he left school at age 14 and was brought up in the fields. His 'curriculum vitae' therefore includes professions such as carpenter, farrier and inventor of numerous agricultural machines that were supposed to facilitate the processing of the beet fields, among other things. However, he dreamed with his wife Esperanza and their 4 daughters to grow wine with international allures.

In 1972, through his agricultural machinery business, he obtained a loan that enabled him to launch into wine growing. One of his first assistants (and mentor), the oenologist Teofilo Reyes, will have a defining influence on the style of the wine by putting more emphasis on the ripeness of the grapes than ripening in barrel. At a time when Spanish viticulture is declining and vines are being torn out to be replaced by beets, Fernández plants vines and markets his first wine in 1975. Unlike most Spanish wines that age and sell in cask cellars when they reach their maturity, the Pesquera wine matures in the bottle following the example of the great Bordeaux. Very sober ruby-purple color, a lot of fruit, typical wood, remarkable maturity and intensity, with a beautiful structure and a lot of tanines, because of these characteristics the Pesquera wines are considered as a current measure of the potential of the Spanish wines.