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Uribes Madero is one of the exclusive Castilla-La Mancha wineries
belonging to the recently-formed (2003), quality-orientated
association, Grandes Pagos (Great Estates) de España.The
Estate of Uribes Madero is the result of the marriage and
partnership of Francisco Uribes and Celia Madero. Francisco,
an architect, runs the business and Celia, a pharmacist, is
the oenologist. Their love and pasion for wine has led them
to invest heavily in viticulture and wine-making in their
finca, Calzadilla. The wine is born and produced in a tranquil,
bucolic part of La Alcarria (Cuenca), an unknown land of woods,
rivers and monasteries, far removed from the rules of a Denominación
de Origen. The production of wine was typical of the region
until phylloxera destroyed the vines in the 19th century.
The Uribes Madero dream was to restore the vineyards and the
tradition of wine-making to the area.
In
1979 the family set about realising their dream and bought
the Estate near Huete, and in 1982 they replaced the olive
trees there with vines, initially with Tempranillo,
Cabernet Sauvignon
and Garnacha,
later adding Merlot
and Syrah. The
soil has a calcareous base with a surface of clay. They have
10 hectares of vines trained on trellises and irrigated by
a drip-feed system. The density per hectare is very low -
a major factor for the production of quality grapes. The vineyards
are 900 metres above sea level, and this creates important
climatic differences between day and night which allows a
slow and consistent maturation of the grapes. The low yield
3 kg per plant (between 6000 and 6500 kg per hectare) enables
the production of excellent wine. A small and beautiful winery
was built, with the most modern installations, to which the
grapes are brought in 15 kg boxes, where they are carefully
selected by hand before de-stalking. They are then transferred
to 10,000 litre temperature-controlled stainless steel fermentation
tanks, small in size to suit the scale of the bodega. The
excellent insulation of the bodega and its orientation permits
the natural stabilisation of the wine in December and January
when the temperature falls below zero. The wines are aged
in American and French Allier oak casks in an underground
cellar. The production is small, a maximum of 70,000 bottles.
The wines are quite outstanding, a true reflection of Francisco’s
and Celia’s skill and dedication to making really great
wines. We are the appointed UK agents for Uribes Madero.
NEW!
Click on the underlined grape varieties
for more information.
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