Ribera del Duero Centro Virtual 

Odd, Spanish-only website with little apparent purpose but a few highly redeeming features: for example, Turismo is interesting and entertaingly presented, with lots of Flash graphics and a lot of information you won't find anywhere else. Well worth poking around if you are thinking of visiting the area.
Added on: 29-Oct-2007 | hits: 209
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D.O. Ribera del Duero 

The Ribera del Duero wine region (Ribera del Duero is also a county in the province of Burgos) stretches along the banks of the Duero as it flows through a goodly part of Castile and León, from the province of Soria through the south of Burgos (taking in areas in the north of Segovia), all the way to Valladolid. It is not a place you would immediately associate with wine-making, having the typical continental climate of the northern meseta, with blisteringly hot, dry summers and extremely cold, harsh winters, but it is also a Mediterranean climate: it receives nearly 2,500 hours of sunlight a year, has low to moderate rainfall, and vines love it. It is the second-best known wine region in Spain after La Rioja and its famous Golden Mile is lined by some of the greatest bodegas in the country, including the reputed (and astronomically expensive) Vega Sicilia. Its main towns are San Esteban de Gormaz in Soria, Aranda de Duero and Roa (where the D.O.'s regulatory board is based) in Burgos, and Peñafiel and Quintanilla de Onésimo in Valladolid. The link goes to the sumptuous, highly informative and beautifully made website of the D.O.'s regulatory board.
Added on: 29-Oct-2007 | hits: 178
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Vega Sicilia 

Vega Sicilia consistently produces some of the greatest wine or simply the greatest in Spain and some of the best in the world. It is able to do so because of the nature of the grapes it grows (low yield, full-flavoured) and extremely meticulous production processes, and though its prices are stratospheric (70 euros for the cheap stuff, 170 for the Unico, at 2007 prices) few would argue that Vega Sicilias are overpriced. Another thing is the sort of money that changes hands at auction when past reserves are brought out - one website calculates that the average auction price of a bottle of 1968 Vega Sicilia Unico is currently nearly $1,100, and over $1,600 has been paid. Don't these people have kids to send to university? The link goes to the bodega's own website, under reconstuction at the time of writing.
Added on: 29-Oct-2007 | hits: 162
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