Alfredo Maestro Tejero Vina Almate Tinto

Alfredo Maestro Tejero's vineyards are located within the Ribera del Duero D.O., but Alfredo prefers not to participate in the D.O., so the wines are Vino de la Tierra de Castillo y Leon.

His are completely natural wines, with no sulphur added in the vineyard or the winery. All vineyard treatments are natural, and many of them follow, Bio-dynamic practices.

The affable iconoclast Alfredo Maestro started making wine in the late 1990's when he planted his first vineyard Almate on the Rio Duraton near his native town of Penafiel in the Ribera del Duero.

From the beginning he set out to farm his vineyard, Organically. In the cellar, Alfredo was teaching himself enology from a book, using every winemaking trick to make a "correct" Ribera del Duero wine: yeasts, acid, enzymes, tannins, colour-enhancers, etc. In the early 2000's Alfredo had a revelation.

He started questioning as to why, as an, Organic farmer, was he using chemicals to make the finished wine. He began eliminating exogenous products and, in 2003, began making wine without any additives, including sulfur.

Over the past few years, he has been searching out abandoned or neglected vineyards around the Ribera del Duero and Madrid to convert to, Organic farming. Gradually, Alfredo has increased production, and now has 9 hectares and two small bodegas, one located in his native Penafiel in the Ribera del Duero, and the other in the Navalcarnero area, southwest of Madrid. He has emerged as one of the most lauded and dynamic natural winemakers in all of Spain

Tempranillo,

75% of this cuvee comes from 80+ year old Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) vines from the Valtiendas area, just south of the Ribera del Duero, grown on river stones over clay soils at 1,000 metres altitude. 25% of the cuvee is from young Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) vines planted on sand and alluvial deposits over clay on the River Duraton at 700 meters.

30% whole cluster, fermented with wild yeasts in vat, and raised for 4 months in used French oak.

The Alfredo Maestro Vina Almate is darkly coloured, opaque and mouth filling with lavender and toffee notes that stay from nose to finish while only tiny bit of reduction, maybe because of the low sulphur, shows on the nose, but quickly disappears to allow a sweet nose of roses, mineral and red berry fruits which lead to a dense palate of plum, cherry and berry compote. NB:, Bio-dynamic classification is uncertified.