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Cantalapiedra Viticultores  

​The gentle, rolling hills of Rueda are the ancestral home of the noble Verdejo grape. Prized for its firm structure, complexity, and ability to transmit the limestone minerality of the Rueda soils, Verdejo produces one of Spain’s most distinctive white wines…as long as it is farmed well and carefully vinified. Unfortunately in the last decade, producers large and small have adopted a very modern vision of Rueda, with the intention of producing white wines geared toward the international market. High yields, machine harvesting, selected yeasts, cold fermentation, heavy filtration, and copious amounts of sulfur have become standard winemaking practices. This monolithic mentality has left many artisanal-minded producers striving to produce authentic, terroir-driven Verdejo wines shut out of the Rueda D.O., working under the broader Castilla y León umbrella. Thankfully, deep respect for the land and non-interventionist winemaking shows in a finished wine regardless of appellation approval. Enter the family Cantalapiedra: Verdejo’s vanguards working in Rueda.
 
The Cantalapiedras descend from several generations of winegrowers working in the municipality of La Seca. This dusty town of 1,000 people, half an hour southwest of the industrial center of Valladolid, is considered to be the heart of the Rueda appellation, with a disproportionate number of well-known producers calling it home. Although there are records of the Cantalapiedras’ grape-growing dating to the 19th century, the birth of the current estate can be traced directly to the year 1949, when patriarch Heliodoro planted his first vineyard plot, or majuelo, at the tender age of 15. For many years, Heliodoro’s son Isaac worked alongside him, and together they built a 20 hectare domaine that is now certified organic. In the past they sold the bulk of their grape production to larger producers in the area. It is with the third generation – Helio has since passed away and Isaac’s son Manuel hasten charge – that the family has established a small cellar of their own, bottling their first vintage in 2014.
 
Even from the first vintage, the high quality of fruit and the traditionalist approach set the Cantalapiedra wines apart amongst the masses of producers in Rueda. Since then, it has been thrilling to watch the evolution of the estate under winemaker Manuel Cantalapiedra. Trained as a classical pianist, Manuel has brought an exacting and artistic approach to the Cantalapiedra cellar. Inspired by the potential of the Verdejo grape and the old vineyards that the family works with, he has focused on bottling of small parcels that highlight the unique heritage of Rueda and Toro. Simultaneously, Manuel has followed his own vision for Verdejo, Tempranillo, and Grenache in the area around La Seca. 

Working organically, with old parcels, and without irrigation, Manuel is able to harvest later than many of his neighbors while retaining vibrant acidity. In the cellar, Manuel utilizes wild yeasts for fermentation, minimal amounts of sulfur, and no other additions. The results are a range of singular expressions of Verdejo from their entry-level unfiltered Lirondo, to more soil-driven, single plot wine called Majuelo del Chiviritero, to the flor-aged La Vigilia (historically traditional for the region), and some of the greatest expressions of the rare old vines in the Toro and Rueda area: Majuelo La Otea, Alto Las Cuestas, and El Parvon.

The Wines
​

Cantayano is 100% Verdejo from 3 parcels - “Las Comas,” “El Chivitero,” and “Los Picones.” Grapes are destemmed, and macerated 4-24 hours before pressing. The juice is wild yeast fermented 90% in steel vat, 10% in used French barrels, raised on lees for 8 months, and bottled with a light filtration and fining.

Lirondo 100% Verdejo from organically farmed vines that are 12-35 years old. The vines are planted on sandy clay soil with abundant pebbles over marl and limestone. The wine is aged on the lees for ~6 months in stainless steel tanks and it is bottled without fining, filtering or sulfur addition. ​

Mondo is a Verdejo parcel wine from a vineyard which Isaac planted with his late father Heliodoro. Grapes are hand-harvested, destemmed, and fermented on skins in open vats without temperature control for 31 days. The juice was then free-run drained off the skins into a 600L used French barrel to finish primary and malolactic fermentation, spending 11 months on fine lees without racking or sulfur additions. Bottling was in September 2018 without any fining, filtration or added SO2.
​
Majuelo del Chiviritero is 100% Verdejo from the 1.1ha namesake single parcel “El Chiviritero” planted in 1981. All grapes are hand-harvested, destemmed, and macerated for 24 hours before pressing. The juice is wild yeast fermented in used French barrels, raised on lees for 9 months, and bottled with a light filtration.

La Otea is 100% Verdejo from 150-year-old ungrafted vines planted on sandy soils in Villanueva de Duero. The grapes are hand-harvested and directly pressed and fermented in 600l French oak barrels, where it is aged for 11 months. Additional aging is in stainless steel tanks for a further 11 months, and the wine is then bottled unfined and unfiltered.

El Espejo 100% Verdejo from a unique 3.6-hectare vineyard planted in 1999 situated 750m in elevation. The singular soil is composed of clay, marl and limestone, with less pebbles than what’s typically seen in the area. The grapes were hand harvested and crushed into neutral French and Austrian oak barrels. After fermentation and malolactic conversion, the wine rested in the same barrels for 11 months and then in stainless steel for another 7 months. Unfined, unfiltered with a small addition of SO2 at bottling.

Alto Las Cuestas is 100% Garnacha, from a single vineyard of ungrafted vines planted in 1909. The sandy limestone soils protected the vines from phylloxera and allowed them to survive. The grapes are hand-harvested, foot-trodden, and fermented in open-top vats without temperature control. After 29 days, the grapes are pressed and racked to 300L and 500L used French oak barrels, where malolactic fermentation takes place. After 22 months, the wines is bottled without fining or filtering.

Arenisca is 100% Tinta de Toro from the Paraje Los Panaderos vineyard in neighboring Benialbo (within D.O. Toro), which is among the highest elevation sites in the appellation. Grapes were hand-harvested, wild yeast fermented with 40% stem inclusion in open vats with 30 days of maceration, then raised for 11 months in used French oak barrels. The finished wine is bottled unfiltered, and just a touch of sulfur is added at bottling. 

El Parvón is 85% Tinto de Toro (Tempranillo), with 15% mixed white varieties (Verdejo, Moscatel, Doña Blanca, Palomino, etc) from a special, mostly own-rooted vineyard in Toro on sandy limestone soils. The vines are largely over 150 years of age. The grapes were harvested together by hand, and 75% were destemmed then fermented together in open-top vats with 20 days of maceration on the skins, then transferred to 225L used French oak barrel to rest for 18 months before bottling without fining or filtering.

Location



General Info


  • Founded: 2014
  • Region: Castilla y León
  • Appellation: Rueda 
  • Village: La Seca
  • Elevation: 750 meters
  • Climate: Continental
  • Soils: Limestone
  • Vineyard Land: 20 Ha
  • Farming: Certified Organic
  • Growers: Manuel Cantalapiedra

Tech Sheets 




  • Cantayano
  • Lirondo
  • Majuelo del Chiviritero
  • Arenisca
  • La Otea
  • El Espejo
  • Alto Las Cuestas
  • El Parvón

Vintage Reports


  • Vintage Guide: 2018-2023

Gallery


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      • Michael Candelario
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