AALTO WINERY AALTO was created in February 1999 when Mariano García who had been Vega Sicilia s winemaking director for 30 years- and Javier Zaccagnini- for 6 years head of Ribera del Duero s Consejo Regulador- decided to join their expertise to make a new wine. Their goal was, from the very beginning, to exhibit a distinct personality in their wines and to reach the quality of the best wines in the world in a lapse of 15 to 20 years. General view of the winery Thanks to the financial support of several Spanish wine enthusiasts and investors, a modern winery was designed and built in Quintanilla de Arriba (Valladolid Spain), following strict criteria to ensure optimal winemaking conditions: we use a low temperature chamber to cool harvested grapes prior to de-stemming and harness gravity to move grapes and musts around the winery, thus avoiding aggressive pumps. We ferment in wood, concrete and stainless steel tanks. Our two underground oak-ageing halls offer excellent natural conditions for barrel ageing and allow perfect malolactic fermentation in wood. Truncated cone shape design stainless steel fermentation tanks AALTO is based on three solid pillars: - The exceptional quality of old Tinto Fino clones. - The considerable complexity of our soils combined with the microclimate of our region. - The winemaking talent and vast experience of Mariano García. Underground oak-ageing cellar 1
AALTO VINEYARDS We now cultivate 110 hectares of old block Tinto Fino vineyards (Tinto Fino is Tempranillo which has adapted over the centuries to Ribera del Duero s climate and soils) in 7 different villages within the province of Burgos, and 20 hectares of younger Tinto Fino vines planted by us in 2 villages in the province of Valladolid, all of them within the Denomination de Origen Ribera del Duero. The age of the old vines ranges from 40 to 100 years old. Vineyard on clayey soil. La Horra 䈀 ƻ Very old vine in spring (70 years old aprox). Baños de Valdearados Vineyard on sandy soil. La Aguilera Very old vine in winter (75 years old aprox). Fresnillo Very old vine in winter (80 years old aprox). La Aguilera 2
AALTO WINEMAKING Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) is the main grape variety of the Ribera del Duero The grapes are picked by hand in small, 15 kg plastic boxes and brought immediately to the winery. There we use two grape-selection conveyor belts where the grapes are thoroughly inspected before they enter the de-stemmer. As early as December the wine goes into French barriques and is kept there with weekly control and refilling. Part of the wine goes through malolactic fermentation in new oak, with daily batonnage. We keep the harvest from each individual vineyard separate throughout the vinification and subsequent ageing period in oak. Mariano García decides the final assemblage of wines when he considers each individual lot has reached its optimum moment for bottling. We do not filter our wines. 䈀 ƻ 100% of the clusters are thoroughly inspected by hand in two conveyor belts, prior to de-stemming. We do not pump the grapes, we fill the fermentation tanks by gravity Pumping over of the wines is always performed manually Ageing in American and French oak 3
We offer two wines: AALTO WINES AALTO: is the result of our extremely careful selection of grapes and expert winemaking. It is a wine of high quality and will be offered every year, except in those when we decide that the climate has not allowed for a perfect ripening of the grapes. The average oak ageing for AALTO is 20 months in 50% new French barrels and 50% one or two year old French and American barrels. AALTO PS (Pagos Seleccionados): our top wine, made only in years when the quality of the harvest allows for the highest standards. This wine is a special and careful selection of the grapes that have reached an exceptional ripening, coming from the very best small areas (called Pagos) of our vineyards. We expect to be able to offer this wine seven or eight vintages each decade. After its alcoholic fermentation, this wine undergoes malolactic fermentation in new barrels and is then aged for a further 24 months in 100% new French oak. ƻ 䈀 4
AALTO TECHNICAL TEAM MARIANO GARCÍA He studied at the Madrid School of Winemaking and Viticulture and made his first vintage at Vega Sicilia in 1968. He continued to work at Vega Sicilia as technical director for the following 30 years, until 1998. Since 1999 Mariano is founder, along with Javier Zaccagnini, of AALTO BODEGAS Y VIÑEDOS, and its technical director ever since. As a winemaker, Mariano rigorously controls the yields, and his winemaking philosophy is of least intervention, allowing the terroir to express itself. His wines are always a fine mix of power, structure and elegance. Mariano is widely recognized as one of the leading oenologist of the world. JAVIER ZACCAGNINI Javier studied industrial engineering in Madrid and holds a MBA but has been professionally active in the world of wine for the past 32 years. He was the head of Ribera del Duero s Regulatory Body Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Ribera del Duero from 1992 to 1998, and his passion for wine made him long for a winery of his own, which resulted in his founding AALTO in 1999, together with his friend Mariano García. His broad experience in Ribera del Duero and his dedication to its wines makes him one of the most respected experts in the region. Antonio holds a degree in Agricultural Engineering and Enology, both completed at Valladolid University. He comes from a family dedicated to viticulture for generations and joined AALTO in 1999 where he has developed most of his professional career. ANTONIO MORAL GONZÁLEZ ƻ 䈀 5
AALTO PRIZES & AWARDS In spite of its youth, AALTO winery has been on an unstoppable course to place its wines among the best in the world since its founding in 1999, and it has been so that both of its wines AALTO and AALTO PS have been awarded very high ratings by the most prestigious and influential wine critics at national and international level. Since 1988 Wine Spectator reveals each year its Top 100 list. In this list the editor selects the most exciting wines from thousands of wines reviewed during the course of the year. In December 2015, Wine Spectator ranked AALTO 2012 as the sixth best wine in the world, selected from a total of more than 18,000 wines that were tasted for this 2015 selection. Although this is a tremendous recognition, it is only one of many that AALTO has received over the past sixteen years. ƻ 䈀 6 Today AALTO is widely regarded as one of the leading wineries in Ribera del Duero and the winery has recently been selected in Paris as one of the Best 100 wineries in the world in Michel Bettane s and Thiery Dessauve s published book.