Abadia Retuerta

This beautiful winery is the result of a Swiss investment (Novartus) in Spanish land, the vineyards and cellars of which have been landscaped and decorated with French expertise. Not just any Spanish land, but ideally located slopes overlooking Spain's most famous winery: Vegas Sicilia. The Swiss were fortunate to have a wine-mad Spanish lawyer on hand, who in turn was friends with Pascal Delbeck (Saint-Emilion winemaker), who got Delbeck to take on the role of technical architect and winemaker to take. It is going too far to explain this fascinating story in detail, but for you it is important to know that the grapes here are treated with exceptional respect and softness.

Despite the relative large scale (240 ha of vineyard), no pump can be found in the enormous cellar. Literally everything (tanks, wooden caskets, barrels and presses) can be lifted and moved so high by hydraulic trolleys that every movement and movement only takes place with falling pressure. So also the many hundreds of ox heads (225 liter barriques) are filled with fall pressure, after which the wine is allowed to mature in its oak bed.