Viña Sastre "Flavus" Blanco '19

"Viña Sastre is an iconic, family-run winery located in the heart of the Ribera del Duero, near Burgos in the town of La Horra, which is one of the most respected villages in the D.O. The village of La Horra is famous for making the powerful, distinctively structured reds from old vine tempranillo, grown near the Duero river.

Jesús Sastre is the winemaker and vineyard manager whose intuitive philosophies and winemaking talents have been a driving force of the winery since 2002, following the passing of his brother Pedro. The Sastre family have been grape growers in La Horra at least since their great-grandfather’s days, giving Jesús an unparalleled knowledge of the vineyards in his region. Jesús’ grandfather, Severiano, was a founding member of the local Asunción cooperative, and his father, Rafael, started the Sastre winery in 1992 at the urging of sons Pedro and Jesus, making 1992 the first vintage of Viña Sastre.

The family-owned vineyards are mostly in the villages of La Horra and Roa, with the average vine age being more than 60 years, all trained in the traditional goblet method. Only vineyards planted prior to 1960 are considered old by the family and are destined for the single-vineyard wines. Although he does not identify himself with any particular dogma, Jesús Sastre is committed to organic farming and biodynamic agriculture principles and he has never used chemical fertilizers or pesticides in his vineyards in his 30 years at the winery. Sastre works in a naturally privileged area for organic farming, with Ribera del Duero’s low temperatures in the winter and at night, and characteristic high altitudes (around 800m) providing large temperature variations between day and night. Pruning is done in accordance with moon cycles as it has always been done in his area. He also rarely uses copper in the vineyard because it is not good for earthworms.

Flavus is an incredible, singular white wine made from indigenous cayetana blanca grapes from 100-year-old vines, selected from Sastre’s historic Pago de Santa Cruz vineyards at 800m to 840m for their complexity and ability to age gracefully. Sastre handcrafts classic wines through extremely low-yielding biodynamic farming methods, fermenting exclusively with native yeasts.

In Pago de Santa Cruz, a small amount of white cayetana blanca grapes have always existed alongside the red tempranillo, co-planted and traditionally mixed into the field blend destined to be one of Spain’s most iconic wines. Through Jesús Sastre’s good friend and Rías Baixas pioneer Gerardo Méndez, they first researched and separated the white grapes from the blend, making the first Flavus in 2007 to make a simple, charming white wine for near-term consumption. Ribera del Duero does not have much of a tradition for white wines, so the initial concept was to make something simple and humble. Instead, it was discovered through the cellaring and consistent tasting of verticals of Flavus over the years that the wine is capable of improving in bottle for a decade or more, leaving tasters stunned by the unique, complex flavors which develop. There is no designation for Ribera del Duero blanco, so while this mighty blanco may be a “Reserva” qualitatively and spiritually bureaucratically, it carries the humble Vino de Mesa designation. Perhaps in the future, the appellation will see the same possibilities for value and quality in their white wines as their more famous reds. 

Following a manual harvest, the wine spontaneously fermented with native yeasts in stainless steel. No malolactic fermentation. The wine was racked and aged in stainless steel for ten months, followed by two years of bottle age."

Incredible aromas of citrus peel, stone fruit and mineral. Both vibrant and textural on the palate, almost a nod to a great Premier Cru Chablis, the Flavus Blanco is a wine that I can just sit and drink all day. Pair it with very simple preparations of shellfish, it won't disappoint.