The Rare Wine Co.

In 1999, a young Loire Valley-born winemaker headed south to Spain for a job he couldn’t possibly refuse: the chance to restore Europe’s largest collection of ancient ungrafted vines—many on their own roots from the time before Phylloxera. The project was Miguel Sanchez’s Dominio de Atauta, and the winemaker was Bertrand Sourdais.

Working with the sea of gnarled, twisted vines, Bertrand immediately made his mark in Spanish wine. And in just his third vintage, one of his Atauta cuvées won a widely publicized blind tasting against the greatest wines of Spain and France, including 2000 Ch. Latour and 1994 Vega Sicilia Unico.

But Atauta’s prestige has grown far beyond the startling results of a single tasting. Today, many of Spain’s top sommeliers and winemakers regard Bertrand as a genius—placing his top wines within striking distance of Vega Sicilia, Pingus, L’Ermita and Erasmus. And what makes his triumph all the more amazing is the speed with which he has accomplished this.

Ribera del Duero’s Rooftop. The key to the greatness of Bertrand’s Atauta wines can be found not only in a young man’s commitment to perfection, but in a unique set of terroirs.

Atauta itself is located 50 miles east of the heart of Ribera del Duero, in a cooler climatic zone and at a much higher elevation: one kilometer above sea level. In fact, Bertrand poetically describes Atauta as “sitting on the rooftop of Ribera.” Throughout Atauta, the soils are very poor with a high concentration of sand that has kept Phylloxera away for the 150 years since it invaded Europe.

But even within Atauta, there are 32 different soil types, each of which Bertrand has studied exhaustively. In fact, in most years, he will set aside the fruit from three particularly individual sites--Llanos del Almendra, Valdegatiles and La Mala--to produce tiny, single-parcel cuvees. But year after year, the wine that best expresses the profound potential of this magical place is the flagship cuvee, Domino de Atauta.

Atauta’s vines range in age from 60 to 160 years old. Like the other old vineyards in Ribera del Duero, they are Tempranillo or Tinto Fino, but because of their great age, they are genetically unique to this area.

Bertrand farms them biodynamically, and in 2005 these ancient vines produced incredibly perfect fruit: very small berries of great concentration and off-the-charts dry extract. The weather was providentially hot and dry, with just enough rain to keep the vines hydrated. And cooler nights allowed for a longer hang-time than in 2004, enhancing the grapes’ phenolic maturity and expressiveness.

The 2005 Dominio de Atauta could be the greatest vision ever of this remarkable wine. Made from selected parcels of low-yielding, ancient vines within the estate, it is not only a monumental wine, it is an astonishing value.

2005 Dominio de Atauta
Jay Miller: “92 rating ... offers an alluring array of mineral, black cherry, blackberry, and blueberry pie scents. This leads to a structured, balanced, tight wine that will require 6-8 years of cellaring.”