Bodegas Vegalfaro

Bodegas Vegalfaro - organic all along the line

Andrés Valiente and his son Rodolfo founded Viñedos & Bodegas Vegalfaro in 1999. The name Vegalfaro is a combination of the word "Vega", meaning a meadow or piece of alluvial land in the lowlands, and the historic name of their winery, Casa Alfaro. Since then, Rodolfo Valiente has strived to develop a distinctive personal wine style at Vegalfaro, always based on organic practices and a willingness to combine tradition with innovation in the search for the optimal expression of terroir.

Bodegas Vegalfaro produces wines in three Denominaciones de Origen:

• D.O.P. Pago de Los Balagueses
• D.O. Utiel-Requena
• D.O. Cava

All Vegalfaro wines are certified organic by the European Union.

The land and methods of Bodegas Vegalfaro

Bodegas Vegalfaro farms 60 hectares (148 acres) of low-yielding vines that fully comply with the strict organic farming requirements of the European Union. The winery has never used artificial products in its vineyards, so the soils have a rich microfauna. These microscopic organisms are very important for decomposing organic matter and absorbing nutrients through a symbiotic relationship with the roots of the vines.

Vegalfaro's commitment to organic practices always aims to promote biodiversity and sustainability to achieve the highest levels of soil health, vine health and wine quality. Microfauna helps prevent late blight and generally promotes plant health. To ensure energy sustainability, solar panels have been placed in the vineyards to generate green energy and power the irrigation systems. Pests are controlled through the use of mites, spiders and bees that eat insects that could damage the vines. Another method is the use of sheep to control the growth of weeds. At the Pago de los Balagueses winery, Bodegas Alfaro grows natural remedies to encourage the proliferation of life in the soil. They plant chamomile, nettles and legumes that contribute to the development of natural microelements and microfauna to promote the health of the vines.

The special grape varieties of Bodegas Vegalfaro

Bodegas Vegalfaro pays special attention to the autochthonous grape varieties of the region. Two of them are cultivated here:

Garnacha Tintorera 

This grape variety is characterized by the fact that it is one of the few grapes in the world that produces a red must. In wines made from the most common varieties, the red colour comes only from the skins, but not in the case of Garnacha Tintorera. This peculiarity gives wines made from this grape variety an intense colour, which is expressed in a dense garnet red, the expression of violet flowers and a very ripe finish of black fruit.

Bobal

Bobal is an autochthonous Spanish grape variety, considered the healthiest due to its high resveratrol content, grown mainly in the Utiel-Requena appellation. Moreover, Vegalfaro's Bobal grapes grow on centuries-old vines in a land with a winemaking tradition. This grape variety is common in cold and dry inland Mediterranean areas with strong temperature variations between day and night. These conditions are ideal for obtaining healthy, well-ventilated grapes that are particularly suitable for organic certification, as is the case with all Vegalfaro wines.

The wines of Bodegas Vegalfaro

Three wineries or lines belong to Bodegas Vegalfaro:

Pago de Los Balagueses

Pago de Los Balagueses is Vegalfaro's top brand, coming exclusively from one of the seventeen wineries in Spain that have received the DOP designation of Vino de Pago to date. The Spanish "vino de pago" system is a designation structure legally created in 2003 by the Spanish government, in consultation with Spanish winemakers, to designate a higher quality level than DO or even the top level DOCa. It is comparable to the French Grand Cru system.

The Pago de Los Balagueses vineyard is a privileged vineyard in a solitary location, completely surrounded by forests and located in the mountainous Parque Natural de las Hoces del Cabriel, an ideal microclimate and soil for viticulture. In addition, the vineyard is within walking distance of the Solana de Las Pilillas, a historic site and candidate for UNESCO World Heritage status, where the ancient Iberians made wine as early as the 5th century BC, representing one of the first testimonies of wine production in the Mediterranean.The label pays homage to the Phoenicians, the earliest shippers and traders of wine in the Iberian Peninsula 

The estate has excellent soils of natural chalk, marlstone and sandy loam, with limestone rocks in the main part and sandy gravel in the lower levels, created by slope erosion. The main grapes grown are Syrah and the local Garnacha-Tintorera, with a small parcel of Merlot and Chardonnay.

Caprasia

Caprasia means "the land of the goats" in Iberian, and the Caprasia label pays homage to a time when wild goats roamed free and the region's original winemaking pioneers grew grapes between the Sierra Cabrillas and the Cabriel River. All Caprasia wines come from the Finca Alfaro winery in Requena.

The Finca Alfaro winery is located in a gently sloping valley and has a soil composition that is mainly clay, while the plots further down and near the river have alluvial soils of sandy loam and large round stones with a gravelly base. Most vines are trellised, but viticultural practices vary by vineyard block to ensure maximum plant balance. The winery's century-old Bobal vines are pruned in the "gobelet" or bush vine style.

Traditional winemaking methods are used to maximize varietal typicity and terroir expression, including de-stemming, gentle grape pressing and low-temperature pre-fermentation. Some of the Caprasia Bobal is aged for 6 months in 150-liter terracotta amphora vats. In Utiel-Requena, Bobal is the undisputed queen, but Vegalfaro also produces wines of excellent quality from the indigenous and well-adapted Macabeo grape, as well as Merlot and Chardonnay, all grown on the Finca Alfaro estate and marketed under the Caprasia label.

Rebel.lia

Rebel.lia is free-form and a little irreverent, alluding to the past of Vegalfaro's winemaker, who wanted to be a lawyer but ended up making wine and playing bass guitar in a rock band. Organic viticulture and closeness to nature are the philosophy behind the winemaking, which promotes biodiversity and sustainability and avoids artificial products. Rebel.lia was already certified organic and vegan long before these two terms appeared in the headlines of all wine trade magazines. 

Today, Vegalfaro can proudly say that Rebel.lia offers excellent value for money that delights knowledgeable wine drinkers and has been internationally recognized as the best organic Spanish wine of 2018. Furthermore, most of the grapes used in the Rebel.lia range are indigenous varieties such as Bobal or Garnacha Tintorera. Vegalfaro are the rebels, but proud of the vine's local roots and ready to export their fruit worldwide.