WELCOME TO FINCA LA ESTACADA

There are lands filled with horizons and silences, hard and barren lands that are, at the same time, the best environment for vineyards and wine. Cuenca is a fine example of this type of land. On the road to Cuenca’s high plateaux and having left Tarancon behind on our way to the historical city, a small wine temple rises. This temple is not for prayers to Bacchus, the god of wine, but a new winery of our times.

Our winery adapts perfectly to the environment that surrounds it thanks to its Mudejar brickwork architecture that is so typical of the La Mancha region, becoming integrated in the vineyard just as a château in the cru. The building faces to the north and has a large garden area on this side, an oasis of freshness and peacefulness that contrasts with the steely glint of the Californian-style outdoor vats.

This entire man-made environment is the successful culmination of the dream held by the family Cantarero-Rodriguez, a well-known name in the wine industry and deeply rooted in the lands of Cuenca. The philosophy behind the creation of their winery is to raise the profile of quality of this land’s wines at reasonable prices.

FINCA LA ESTACADA owns 238 ha of vineyards located all of them in the nearness of the winery facilities; the furthest are 7-10 km away. From that total 106 ha. are dedicated to Tempranillo grape variety which vines are 15 years old on average, 59 ha. to Cabernet, 32 ha. to Merlot and 8 ha. to Syrah. Airén, Macabeo and Mazuelo grape varieties share the rest of the plantation. The association of varieties like Tempranillo with foreign grapes planted during the last 7 years has meant a distribution of the average yield hydrous components in order not to affect the character of each variety.

In this field, adopting varieties such as Tempranillo –the most prestigious Spanish variety- Merlot and Cabernet- the grand dames of the wine world- and the incipient Syrah (or Shiraz)- the big star from the French Rhône Valley and Australia- is not just a choice based on current popularity. It also shows the desire to compete against the best wines in the world.

FINCA LA ESTACADA is leaving behind the traditional bush-training image that characterizes wines from Castilla-La Mancha region gives way to the espalier geometry, which features a dripping system that balances the hydric supply. This conduction improves noticeable the clarity of the grapes, due to the increase of sun captation and the production distribution. Besides, this system improves the ripeness because the leaf surface is bigger, and finally it allows mechanising many vineyard activities.

The soil is composed of argillaceous sediments on limestone substrate, poor but containing sufficient mineral resources. Maturity is problem-free, thanks to the high average of sunshine hours that is so common for vineyards in Castile-La Mancha, but with the peculiarity of being located on higher ground. This factor leads to a slightly slower process of maturation than elsewhere in La Mancha, which helps to preserve certain levels of acidity and some fruity shades that could otherwise disappear under higher average temperatures.

The average plantation density is about 2.000-2.500 vines per hectare, depending on the grape variety and location. In this sense the vines achieve a production per hectare around 5.000 and 7.000 kg of small grape.

FINCA LA ESTACADA controls all the vegetative cycle of the vine, so can be sure that the fruit entering in the winery fulfils all the requested parameters to elaborate quality wines. Indeed, a good raw material is basic to obtain a quality wine, that is, to elaborate it the grapes arriving to the winery should be in optimum conditions of size as well as of polyphenols maturity or sugar quantity, among other parameters.

Probably, the most important phase in all the vegetative cycle is the pruning. When we pruning we control the vine production. It depends a lot on the conduction system chosen, that is, bush-training or espalier. In Finca La Estacada, we prune leaving the productive “buds” (yemas), but it also depends on the vineyard and variety.