One very impressive winery in Ronda is Cortijo Los Aguilares, the personal retirement project of a Basque businessman, José Antonio Itarte.  The estate is a huge finca and the vineyards only cover some 19 hectares of the total 800 available…wine here is made on a very artisanal basis…after extensive soil analysis only the best parcels were planted with vines!  Also on the estate are free-range Iberian black pigs…we saw them running through the oak trees from a distance.  The winery itself has two buildings, both of which were restored respecting the original architecture of the Cortijo; the elegant main house is mostly a vacation home for the family but also houses the administrative offices and a beautiful tasting space.  The winemaking area is housed in a much more functional building with a shallow lake on the roof to help with cooling the barrel room.  The young enologist, Bibi García, is very dynamic and she is striving to make a very different style wine than is typical in the area.  She gained experience working in Rioja, Priorat and Chile.  The owner is greatly influenced by the wines of Burgundy and Bibi is trying to create elegant, aromatic wines that seem to defy the sometimes extreme heat of the region.  These wines do in fact have an earthy complexity reminiscent of Burgundy and are surprisingly light in alcohol. 

The vineyards are still quite young, having been planted in 2000, and the grapes varieties are: Pinot Noir, Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot. The yields are extremely low; the enologist told us that the yields for the Pinot Noir are only 300 grams of grape per vine!  Though the winery is not organic or biodynamic, the owners believe in respecting the environment to the utmost…there is no use of herbicides or pesticides.

The winery uses no pumps and all the winemaking is gravity-based.  Fermentation is done in stainless steel after the grapes pass through a selection table.  The barrel room has 160 barrels between 1 and 3 years old, all of it French oak.  The winery only has a total capacity for 10,000 bottles production per year. 

There are four wines:
1.  The rosé is a coupage of Merlot, Petit Verdot and Tempranillo and is very interesting, fresh, good acidity, quite complex fruit for a Spanish rosado.  Quite pricy at over 10€ though.
2. The Young or “joven” red wine is a blend of Merlot and Temprnaillo with short fermentation times to preserve the varietal fruit.  A nice fruity wine, but nothing to blow me away.
3. Pinot Noir 2005:  this 100% Pinot Noir is one of the most interesting I have tasted in Spain (admittedly not a lot of competition!)  Very aromatic, earthy, floral, strawberry fruit.  Good tannins but a little short on aromas in the finish.  It has only 9 months in French oak as Bibi wants to preserve the Pinot Noir aromas, and the oak serves only as a nice framework for the wine.   Very impressive….quite interesting aromatic complexity….I’m sure this wine will continue to improve.
4. Pago El Espino 2005:  This is the reserva wine, a coupage of 40% Tempranillo, 25% Merlot, 20% Pinot Noir y 15% Petit Verdot, with 16 months in French oak.  Very impressive wine…lots of oak, but really balanced, floral and vanilla aromas, sweet cherry fruit.  The tannins and length are impressive…the wine goes on and on.  Very elegant and complex wine. Loved this wine!

The elegant and aromatic, floral nature of the wines is very impressive, especially given that they are made in Ronda.  This is a winery with a huge amount of potential.  The wines can be bought online in Spain or in Lavinia in Madrid.  Prices range from 10 to 25 euros.