Bodegas Balbás

Bodegas Balbas - Origin of the Ribera del Duero

Bodegas Balbás was founded back in 1777. Since then it has been passed down from generation to generation and is still run by the Balbás family. Along with eight other wineries, Bodegas Balbás founded the Ribera de Duero appellation or D.O., a prominent wine region in Castile-León in central Spain that runs parallel to the Duero River.

The winery's history dates back more than two hundred years, beginning in the village of La Horra, in the heart of the Ribera del Duero region.
In 1777, Abundio Balbás, the pioneer, began using his own grapes to produce red wine for local consumption, which he transported and distributed in homemade wine bottles called odres. The family continued making and selling wineskins until the first glass bottles appeared. The Balbás name has been linked to wine for six generations, and today it is Abundio's great-great-grandson, Juan José Balbás, who runs the company and is a key figure in the D.O. Ribera del Duero. In fact, Bodegas Balbás was one of the pioneer wineries that contributed to the creation of the appellation in 1982, which today includes more than 300 wineries. Juan José Balbás was president of the D.O. Regulatory Board from 1996 to 2000. He is actively supported by his wife Clara de la Fuente.

The vineyards of Bodegas Balbás

Bodegas Balbás owns 102 hectares of vineyards, where the following grape varieties are grown:

• Tempranillo,
• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Merlot

It is harvested by hand, almost always in the first weeks of October, with yields ranging from one thousand to five thousand kilos per hectare. This production range, combined with the traditional winemaking practices, produces wines that are very characteristic of the D.O. Ribera del Duero. Bodegas Balbás has the privilege of owning a large number of vineyards in the area that the prestigious Master of Wine, Jancis Robinson, has called the "Golden Diamond" of the Ribera del Duero, because the soil and climate produce such high quality wines. The soils are mainly clay and loam.

In the cellar of Bodegas Balbás

Bodegas Balbás uses French and American oak to age their wines, selecting the wood before making the barrels, thus controlling the drying and toasting of each barrel to add just the right amount of oak for each variety and winemaking process. A stable environment is also provided, where temperature, light and humidity are controlled to ensure that each bottle has the opportunity to develop and give the best of itself. In one of the rooms of the winery are produced special wines that are fermented in French oak barrels under controlled humidity and temperature conditions. These are Ribera del Duero wines with a particularity, either because they are wines from a single winery or because of the type of grapes used. Finally, some bottles end up in the storage cellar. Here are stored the wines with the longest history. Wines from old, historic or important vintages for the family are stored in an ideal atmosphere that helps them develop in the bottle and preserve their special characteristics.