Dominio del Aguila

The history

As a young wine student, Jorge Monzón went to Burgundy without any connections, experience, or French, and after much persuasion, secured an internship at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. There, he spent his internship shadowing the maître de chai, Bernard Noblet, and observing how wine is made.

Upon returning to Ribera del Duero, he worked at Vega Sicilia for a couple of years, where he participated in efforts to create a white wine that could rival the winery's reds. He then served as technical director at Arzuaga-Navarro.

During that time, he had been purchasing vineyards around his hometown of La Aguilera. These vineyards were old plots at risk of being uprooted and replanted with the higher-yielding Tempranillo clone or imported varieties popular at the time, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Malbec.

Dominio del Águila was founded in 2010. The name means Eagle's Domain.

Isabel Rodero (Monzón's wife) majored in architecture and co-manages the project. They could have built modern facilities in a more convenient location. Instead, however, they renovated three ancient cellars beneath the village and still work there, punching down the grapes with their feet.

Sixty-six hectares of what nobody wanted

The total area of Dominio del Águila's vineyards has expanded to 66 hectares, spanning the La Aguilera area of Ribera del Duero. These vineyards were not laid out in a systematic grid for efficiency. Since they would have been lost if no other options had been available, the older plots, purchased one by one, are scattered here and there.

The vines range in age from approximately 60 to over 150 years. Some plots were planted before the phylloxera epidemic, while others were planted shortly thereafter, and they are laid out exactly as they have been for centuries. In other words, the field blend, composed primarily of the Tempranillo variety, contains a diverse mix of genetic combinations, including white grape varieties.

In this region, where for decades the focus has been solely on extraction and yield, these vines were classified as low-yielding. It is precisely for this reason that they were still available for purchase.

Cultivation throughout this vineyard has been certified organic.

The terroir

The character of Dominio del Aguila wine begins above ground and is perfected underground. La Aguilera The ancient vineyards in the surrounding area are planted with vines, of the low-yielding Masale variety, that offer a rich, concentrated flavor despite their modest harvests.

Then there are the wine cellars. The three cellars, dug deep into the bedrock beneath the village, date back to the 15th century and have been restored rather than newly built.

Because they are located underground, they remain cool and at a stable temperature year-round. The wine matures slowly in this environment, and that is the key. This slow aging process imparts complexity and subtle flavors.

A field blend

Dominio del Aguila makes use of the varieties actually grown in La Aguilera's old vineyards, which are far more diverse than Tempranillo alone. The cultivated varieties are as follows:

• Tempranillo: The main variety, cultivated using various Masale selection methods rather than a single clone
• Albillo: A native white grape variety of the region, accounting for a significant portion of the vineyard
• Tempranillo Gris
• Garnacha
• Cariñena
• Bobal
• Bruñal
• And several varieties that have not yet been officially identified

This last point is no exaggeration. The vines planted in Ribera del Duero before and immediately after the phylloxera outbreak possessed a genetic mix that is unheard of in modern viticulture, and some of them still survive in this vineyard.

Because the vines are planted in mixed plots, the blend is primarily determined in the vineyard, not assembled later in the cellar.

The winemaking

Dominio del Aguila's winemaking process has been intentionally simplified. Whole bunches of grapes are fermented together using the grapes' own natural yeast. Pigeage (the process of treading the skins with the feet to resuspend them) is performed directly by foot.

Isabel Rodero explained that this approach is about listening to what the wine demands, rather than imposing a plan on it. Intervention is minimized, but the minimal intervention referred to here does not replace Monzón's Bordeaux and Burgundy training; rather, it runs parallel to them.

After primary fermentation is complete, the wine is transferred to oak barrels to undergo malolactic fermentation and aging. The cool underground cellar located beneath La Aguilera allows the remaining processes to unfold slowly.

The method of fermenting whole bunches of red and white grapes together is closer to the winemaking practices used here several generations ago than to the standard methods of the modern Ribera del Duero region. That is precisely the essence of this approach.

The range, from Albillo to Clarete

Dominio del Aguila produces red wine, white wine, and claret; this product line reflects the characteristics of the various old vineyards used as raw materials, rather than following a simple hierarchy such as Crianza, Reserva, and Gran Reserva.

Albillo Viñas Viejas is a white wine made from Albillo, harvested from old vines of traditional white grape varieties in the La Aguilera vineyard.

Pens Alades Clarete belongs to the old claret category of Ribera del Duero, a pale red wine made by co-fermenting red and white grapes.

In addition, the winery bottles Dominio del Aguila, a classic Ribera del Duero Reserva-style red wine, as well as single-vineyard cuvées such as Canta la Perdiz. Production volumes are generally low because the wine cellar is the size of a studio apartment and the vines are old and unproductive.