Finca Losada

Finca Losada - in search of gems in Bierzo

The Finca Losada winery is located in Cacabelos on the road to Villafranca del Bierzo. This location, in the middle of a triangle formed by Cacabelos, Villafranca and Toral de los Vados, allows the best possible access to the Bierzo growing area.

With the goal of producing an elegant new generation Bierzo wine, Losada Vinos de Finca boldly sought out old Bierzo vineyards traditionally planted on clay soils, a terroir that had gone relatively unnoticed by the new generation Bierzo.
Thus Losada was born on the outskirts of the village of Pieros, on the Way of Saint James, halfway between Cacabelos and Villafranca del Bierzo.
The company also owns vineyards planted mainly on clay soils in the area of Valtuille de Arriba, where the grapes for Altos de Losada are produced.

Amancio Fernández -  the brains behind the wines of Finca Losada

Since 2005, Amancio Fernández has been the oenologist at Bodega Losada Vinos de Finca, a young company whose philosophy is to give maximum expression to the terroir of the region through the careful selection of vineyards and estates. "Our goal is to find exceptional plots of clay soils in Valtuille and Pieros that produce an elegant and complex Mencía."

Complexity and elegance are the foundation of the Losada Vinos de Finca project, where not only are the vineyards carefully selected to express the true character of the region, but also the grapes from each vineyard are processed in the bodega itself. In addition, ageing is seen as a means of adding complexity and nuance to the wine and increasing its longevity. All of this aims to express the terroir of El Bierzo with the utmost authenticity. "Our philosophy is to respect the environment and produce elegant wines," summarizes Amancio.

The terroir of Bierzo

Bierzo is a small wine appellation in the west of the province of León. It is one of Spain's rising stars and produces high-quality red wines from old Mencía vines, the traditional indigenous grape variety of Bierzo.

The vineyard area covers more than 2,600 hectares with small plots of Mencía grapes planted in valleys protected by the Montes de León to the north and the Cordillera de los Aquilianos to the south.

The soils, with their low pH, are well suited to viticulture and are composed of two types: Shale and sandstone on one side and rich clay on the other. The vines are planted at an altitude of between 400 and 800 metres.

The semi-humid continental climate offers over 2,000 hours of sunshine per year, an average rainfall of 750 mm and an average temperature of 12.3 °C with strong temperature variations between day and night. This combination provides perfect conditions for the production of quality grapes, as predicted by star oenologist Emile Peynaud and later confirmed by the most influential wine critics.

Work in the vineyards of Finca Losada

In the vineyards, manual harvesting is carried out, the grapes are placed in small plastic boxes, which are taken as quickly as possible to the winery for harvest reception. The fruit is already carefully sorted on the vines so that minimal additional sorting is required in the winery. The grapes are then destemmed and gently crushed before natural fermentation begins with indigenous yeasts from the grape skins. The frequency of pumping over and the temperature of fermentation are adjusted according to the character of the vintage. The young wines are then transferred from the skins to barrels for malolactic fermentation.

The philosophy of the wines of Finca Losada

The wines are differentiated according to the origin of the vineyard and not according to the duration of ageing in barrel. According to Finca Losada's philosophy, the role of the barrel is to allow the wine to breathe slowly through the pores of the oak, giving the wine additional complexity and greater longevity without losing its freshness and varietal character. Oak barrels are used that show the true character of the forests where the wood comes from and that best suit the delicate and elegant wines that Finca Losada makes. French coopers are asked to supply the estate with lightly toasted barrels, taking into account the characteristics of each vintage.

Finca Losada's philosophy in the cellar is to intervene as little as possible to bring out the character of the vineyard and the quality of the vintage, which they have extracted through their meticulous work in the vineyards, in the winemaking process. The approach to winemaking is based on a combination of solid technical knowledge and the experience and intuition gained by the Finca Losada cellar team in more than ten vintages in Bierzo.