Bodegas Valdemar “Balcon de Pilatos” Maturana
WHY WE LOVE IT
- Bodegas Valdemar has been distinguished at the prestigious International Wine Challenge Industry Awards with the award for Best Spanish Red of 2024 for its wine Balcón de Pilatos Maturana 2020, reaffirming its leadership in the recovery and production of native Rioja varieties.
- This is a unique and recognizable variety in the vineyard, which is almost extinct. Its small berries produce wines with a deep color and aroma.
- Grown in an estate located at 500 meters altitude, limestone soils and privileged orientation, this wine reflects Valdemar ‘ s commitment to innovation and respect for the Rioja terroir.
Varietal: 100% Maturana
Elaboration: 11 months in new fine-grain American oak barrels with 3 years of drying.
Tasting Notes: Cherry red with violet hues, very deep robe. Complex and intense aroma of ripe black fruit with fine notes of sweet spices such as vanilla, cocoa, and tobacco. Character characteristic of the variety. Smooth, creamy, honeyed, without rough edges, and with vigour. Notes of sweet spices. Very long and elegant.
PRESS
2020 – 96 Wine Enthusiast | 93 James Suckling | Best Spanish Red International Wine Challenge
PRODUCER BACKGROUND
“Always pioneering” is Bodegas Valdemar’s motto. Five generations of the Valdemar family in Rioja, Spain, have remained committed to producing wines reflecting the diversity of their vineyards. For over 135 years, the family has incorporated innovative initiatives like creating the first barrel-fermented white wine and the first Tempranillo white. They have also been instrumental in recovering varietals presumed to be extinct, such as the Maturana grape and the Granciano variety.
In 2019, they established the first non-American winery in Washington State, led by siblings Jesús and Ana Martínez Bujanda, CEO and COO of Valdemar Estates. Under the “inherited know-how” they received from previous generations, the innovative winemakers have turned their land into sustainable wine agroecosystems, using organic matter to improve fertility, cover crops, pheromones to control pests, varietal diversity, biological corridors, and native forests, resulting in an the International “Wineries for Climate Protection” certification. This designation’s four pillars align with the Bodegas Valdemar commitment to reducing the carbon footprint, using renewable energies, and managing water while reducing waste.