Bodegas Arrocal
Producer web site
Bodegas Arrocal is family-owned and run, with Isaac Fernandez Montana being the winemaker. Arrocal is a new winery, with construction complete in 2004. It is located in a small town in Ribera del Duero called Gumiel de Mercado. The wine is produced from the grapes grown on the 27 hectares planted at the winery. Twenty-four hectares are planted in tempranillo, two in cabernet and one in merlot grapes.
ARROCAL, BODEGAS
Located in Gumiel de Mercado a small village in the western portion of the Ribera del Duero D.O., the winery produced its first wine in 2001. The vineyards were planted by the owners and a new winery was built and utilized for the 2005 vintage. The young estate vines are trained espalier in a Smart system and are drip irrigated.
With the completion of the new winery, all movement of wine through the winery takes place by gravity to minimize rough handling and to help obtain a wine with a silky mouthfeel. Fruit expression is maximized through temperature controlled fermentations, excluding extended maceration and gentle pressing in low capacity basket presses. The young wine typically ages for 4 months in oak while the Seleccion will spend 15 months in oak.
The Bodegas Arrocal estate is located in Gumiel de Mercado (close to Burgos) in the DO district Ribera del Duero in Castilia-Léon in Spain. It was founded by Rosa María Arroyo Calvo and Moisés Calvo in 2002. This is a functional winery, built on the gravity principle, to avoid pumping wherever possible, and to exert as little mechanical stress on the wine as possible. The vineyard area totals 17 hectares. Permanent probes are installed in the soil to monitor water, nitrogen, phosphor and magnesium levels at all times. If any of the values falls below a specified level, this can be corrected quickly. The grapes are picked late, in early October, when the grapes are fully ripe. Fermentation takes place in large stainless steel tanks. Only two wines are produced, the „Arrocal” (matured in American barriques for 4 months) and „Arrocal Selección” (14 months in new French barriques). Annual production is around 90.000 bottles of wine, of which around 70% are exported.