Brothers Rafael and Luis Carlos Pérez González -fifth generation of grape growers, and now the sixth as Pablo, son of Luis Carlos, joins the business- are at the forefront of Bodegas Vallemayor.
Located in Fuenmayor, one of Rioja’s historical villages, Bodegas Vallemayor continues with the family tradition of making fine wines that was inherited from the founder, Luis Pérez Foncea, even though classical wines were frowned upon by the critics in a not too distant past. “We make wines that we feel are the historical expression of this area,” explains Rafael. “My father was a fine wine producer and a great connoisseur of all the wines from Spain thanks to his work as négociant.”
Rafael and his brother grew up with those classic and delicate Rioja wines; colour and structure were important but not as much as finesse. “There were fine wines and syrupy wines, wines to drink and wines to taste; we decided to make wines to drink”.
The Pérez González brothers own 70 hectares of vineyards, 60 of them in the vicinity of Fuenmayor. In fact, their focus since they took control of Vallemayor has been securing more land. “We have invested heavily over the years; when our dad past away in 2006, we had 35 hectares of vines. We have been working in drywall offices in the winery until recently to ensure our grape supply.”
Vallemayor bottles 50% of its production and sells the remainder in bulk. “During the harvest, we must make room in the tanks to ensure that our wine production reaches every single one of our sales channels. We do this without renouncing to offer consistent quality throughout the entire vintage,” they explain. “Besides, making wines in bulk gives us the capacity to take on increased bottlings using our own wines.”
The winery’s portfolio includes three different ranges. The entry level wines are a white, a rosé and a red. “All of them are destemmed and fresh; we sacrifice power to gain finesse,” says Rafael. Vallemayor Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva represent a more traditional style. “We blend Tempranillo with a little bit of Mazuelo and Graciano; the latter two gain more presence in the wines with longer ageing. In terms of oak barrels, we tend to use a higher proportion of French oak in wines meant for prolonged ageing.”
Lastly, the Vallemayor range includes two single vineyard wines, Viña La Encineda and Viña Cerradilla, and a barrel-fermented white from 60-year-old Viura vines. “These grapes are sourced from old vines and are fermented in new oak; the wines are more modern, but we maintain our own style in terms of ripening and extraction.”
As befits their classic style, Vallemayor sells most of its wine to the UK. “Out of the 450,000 bottles we produce, over 200,000 are sent to the British market. The recession wiped out our on-trade distribution in Spain and we don’t pursue an aggressive commercial policy to carve a niche in the supermarket shelves.”