Blecua is a small and beautiful winery located in the region of Somontano, which was born with the aim of producing the top wines of Viñas del Vero. A much awaited project of Viñas del Vero, it finally saw the light in 2000.
Blecua wines will only be released on the best years, therefore, it is not produced every year. Blecua's winemakers will determine which years the wine is produced taking into account the climatic conditions, the harvest, the conditions of the grapes and other factors of each year. If all conditions are not compliant with the superlative quality of this wine, the vintage will not be released and Blecua will not be produced that year.
Blecua winery is situated a short distance away from Viñas del Vero, near the Vero river and between Barbastro town and Alquézar village.
Blecua wine is made with a changing proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Syrah and Merlot grapes depending on the vintage. These are selected from eight unique vineyards and they spend 20 months in new french oak barrels.
Blecua is famous for its 'triple selection method'. Selecting the best vineyards, bunches and barrels for its production.
Vineyards
The best vineyards of Viña del Vero have been selected to produce this wine. 8 special vineyards with different microclimates, at different altitudes, with high sun exposure and of low yield production. These allows for the different grape varieties to be harvested in the optimum point of maturity of the grape.
Bunches
The harvest is picked by hand in small boxes of 10kg. Once in the winery, a selection of only the best bunches is done at the triage table, hence just the best quality grapes will reach the fermentation vats. The grapes of each vineyard will be fermented separately in 18,000 liter vats of french oak of Allier. The fermentation and maceration process takes around 4 weeks, depending on the grape variety. The wines initiate the malolactic fermentation in the fermentation vats, and once this has started they are transferred to the french oak barrels.
Barrels
Each of the wines is introduced in new french oak barrels of 'Allier', coming from four different cooperages. After 12 months in the barrels, a selection of the best wines of the best barrels are selected. After the best wines are selected, they are taken for another final blend to age for another 8 months in selected barrels. Blecua wines totally spend 20 months in barrel before being bottled directly from the barrels without any stabilization of filtering process.
One of Blecua's distinguishing features is that it is different every year, because only the best barrels of each variety are retained through each of the selection processes.
The first Blecua wine marketed was made from the 1997 harvest, which was released in September 2000. Blecua bottled just 15 barrels of the 1997 harvest and the wine was made up of equal quantities of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Garnacha and Tempranillo.
Blecua 1998 was exceptional as this was an historic year for Somontano, considered by all to be the best year since the Denomination of Origin was created: 68 barrels of Blecua were made, from two main varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon and Garnacha.
The 1999 Blecua was not released however. The wine did not meet the quality parameters necessary for a wine of this level and with these characteristics, so the 1999 vintage was disregarded.
