Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/490558
{ SOMMjournal.com } 83 A n abundance of aromas waft from my glass: cigar box, stewed and sour cherries, spice, prune candy, blood orange, moist cedar. I take a sip. The 1982 Beronia Gran Reserva is lively. Flavors of chocolate, drying dill and forest floor meld with all that fruit and spice from the nose. A good measure of fine, chalky tannins suggest this wine can continue to grow in complexity and refine- ment up to its 50th birthday. It is February and Beronia's gently sloping Rioja Alta vine- yard is covered with a thick, white blanket. The Tempranillo vines' sturdy horizontal arms carry only snow. But, back when González Byass acquired its 90% stake in Beronia, the grapes that gave their all for the wine in my glass still hung from the vines in bunches, ripening under warm sun. Beronia was González Byass's first step into table wine. The goal: create new sources of revenue through diver- sification. Then, the company's revenue was split 50-50 between international Sherry sales and the domestic brandy market. Where to start better branching out than Rioja, Spain's most-prestigious table wine region? Beronia was small—just 50,000 cases per year—but promising. Beronia, now a premier producer and strong in the United States, has grown to the point that its cellar houses more than 28,000 barrels of maturing wine. After Beronia, González Byass added Cava producer Vilarnau, plus Somontano's Viñas del Vero and Blecua. They inau- gurated Finca Constancia in 2006; this Tierra de Castilla winery was built, and the vineyard largely planted, from scratch. And now, González Byass is introducing its first wine from Rueda, a delicious and refreshing Verdejo of gooseberry, grapefruit and peach blossoms made by Finca Constancia winemaker Beatriz Paniagua for the Beronia label ($11.99). González Byass sales are booming, and 50 percent now come from table wine. The modern winery at Finca Constancia. A venerable old vine at Beronia, where the Rioja Gran Reserva is comprised of Tempranillo, Graciano and Mazuelo from vines with an average age of 60 years. PHOTO COURTESY OF GONZÁLEZ BYASS PHOTO COURTESY OF GONZÁLEZ BYASS