El Judas 2023

Vintage: 2023

Region: Castilla y León, Valladolid

Grapes: Viura 100%

Agriculture: Organic, 70 year old vines, Las Cotarras parcel, Villanueva de Duero. Siliceous sandy soils with gravel, 708m altitude, continental climate. 0.45 ha.

Vinification: Hand harvested in 10kg crates with bunch selection. Whole cluster maceration 12 to 18 hours, pressed with stems, natural settling. Spontaneous fermentation in 600L barrels, aged on lees for 12 months, then 4 months in tank before bottling. Lightly clarified and filtered, no cold stabilization.

Volume: 750ml

El Judas is the third wine in Barco del Corneta's Parajes del Infierno trilogy, and in some ways the most personal. Viura has always been present in this part of Castilla y León - it was the variety Beatriz's grandfather grew in La Seca. But Viura rarely gets the serious treatment it deserves. After a trip to La Rioja, where Viura has a longer history of being vinified for ageing, Bea and Félix came back with a simple question: why not make a genuinely great wine from it? The answer was El Judas, sourced from the Las Cotarras parcel in Villanueva de Duero, where 70 year old vines grow on siliceous sandy soils with larger gravel on the surface, at 708 metres altitude. The same winemaking approach as La Sillería applies here: spontaneous fermentation in barrel, a full year on lees, then four months in tank before a light filtration and bottling without cold stabilisation.