Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/735024
{ SOMMjournal.com } 35 lifted by a series of cranes to flow into the waiting tanks or barrels, the latter number- ing 2,100 for a total production of 500,000 bottles a year. More on the wines below. Once the vineyard was established and the wines gaining recognition—although being historically the original Duero vineyard, they are geographically a kilometre or so outside the DOC Ribera del Duero and so sell as Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y León—in May 2008 work was begun to restore the Abbey and to convert it into a five-star hotel. Italian architect Marco Serra was hired to respect the architectural and philosophical legacy of the past, maintain as far as possible the origi - nal structure. Having stayed there during the two-day Tribute to Terroir Symposium, I can understand why in 2016 Abadía Retuerta LeDomaine was, becoming immediately a member of the Relais & Châteaux, named as the Best Hotel in Spain by both TripAdvisor and the Spanish magazine Club des Gourmets. Under the direction of Chef Andoni Luis Aduriz, owner of Michelin two-star restaurant Mugaritz, with his pupil Marc Segarra Sauné behind the stoves, LeDomaine's cuisine was swiftly awarded a Michelin star. In mid-June, to mark the 25th anniversary of Abadía Retuerta's first vintage, Juan José Abó and Pascal Delbeck aided by Marie- Louise Banyols conceived a series of Think Tanks in honour of "great historic terroirs, noble grape varieties and the vignerons who exalt them." With Abó, Delbeck and Anocibar all being members of L'Académie International du Vin—which I had the honour to join in 1973 as the first British member—it was not surprising to see many of my colleagues, ranging in age from Hermitage's Gérard Chave to Barcelona wine merchant Quim Vila. The first session on The Respect and Tradition of Terroir was represented by Bordeaux's "old guard" of Jean-Noël Boidron, Jean-Claude Berrouet and Dominique Renard alongside Gérard Chave. Delbeck opened by saying, "Terroir is like music; it can't play itself and can't even discover itself; it needs the hand of man." Boidron described terroir as territoire, being not just soil and subsoil but every - thing that surrounds it: light, humidity, wind and much more. Chave's opinion that the 133 hectares of Hermitage create quite different styles of wine has led to his fam- ily's preferring to blend to show all these aspects. Renard (ex Bordeaux merchant JF Moueix and retailer Duclot) pointed out that while you have to know how to pro - duce terroir wines, you also have to know how to sell them, to explain yet preserve the mystery, adding that the "garage" wines of the 1980s, which were supposed to heighten the expression of terroir, did just the opposite by exaggerating it. Berrouet (ex JP Moueix and Pétrus) summed up by saying that terroir cannot be "collective," its expression in different hands being unique even if the terroir itself is the same. The next morning's theme question was "How to Manage and Transmit a Great Terroir?" That this was not simply a question of vines and money, but also of philoso - phy, was beautifully put by Isabelle Meyer, daughter of Jean Meyer, who was in charge of the family's Josmeyer estates in Alsace's Wintzenheim for over four decades. His style "expressed raciness and verticality, creating wines of a proud lightness that are grand because they don't try to be." Tasting later her Riesling Grand Cru Hengst, Victor de la Serna described it as "a pure example of the inheritance of spirit." On the other side of the coin, while Etienne de Montille has made financial provisions for the next generation to take over his now substantial holdings in the Côte d'Or, he bemoaned the fact that the top vineyards in Burgundy now carry such high values that keeping them in the family is very difficult, so the concept of a propriétaire-récoltant may be a thing of the past. Bruno Prats confirmed that family ownership of great Bordeaux châteaux was becoming rare, but if new corporate owners keep the professionals whose families have worked the vineyards and the cellars over many years, this is an admirable solution. Château de Beaucastel's Jean-Pierre Perrin compared managing a great ter - roir to running a company, both having to keep values of "force and stability," the terroir continuing in the right hands to live through evolution and experimentation. The afternoon session—"How Can Man Influence Terroir?"—was summed up by Carlos Falco, Marqués de Griñon, in two words: "knowledge and desire." Inheriting the Tempranillo-dominated family domaine outside Toledo, he planted Cabernet Sauvignon in 1974, Syrah in 1991, Petit Verdot in 1992 and recently Graciano, his favourite wine today being a 40/60 blend of the last two. Over four decades he has totally changed the style and quality of the domaine, the terroir remain - ing the same. Barolo's Elio Altare wanted to change everything on the family estate and in the cellar, and his father reacted by dis - inheriting him, leaving everything to Altare's sisters, such was his resistance to change. Only after many years did he regain control. Another Piedmontese, Paolo di Marchi,faced the same attitude and moved to Tuscany, creating the Isole e Olena estates and break - ing Chianti tradition with his first bottling of Ceparello in 1980, a 100% Sangiovese. In both cases there was a complete change in the use of terroir, the terroir remaining unchanged. Later, I kept thinking that since terroir cannot speak, it obliges us to speak of it, but in the end it will speak of our use of it. That Abadía Retuerta could hold its head high in such company was evident from the wines served at the highly gastronomic first dinner. A total of 54 plots had been iden - tified, each one planted to a single variety, ending with a total of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Syrah and 10% Merlot, Petit Verdot and white varieties. The white LeDomaine 2014—Sauvignon Blanc with a little Verdejo—was floral and fresh with a minerally finish. Magnums of the 100% Tempranillo Pago Negralada 2011 had won - derful fragrance and vineyard richness, while magnums of Pago Valdebellón 2011 from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon at 850 metres, was robustly intense. I was unable to stay for the next evening's Gala Dinner, where older vintages were served in Double Magnums, plus Graham's 1980 presented by attendee Peter Symington, but I went away with a bottle each of the recently released 2013s: Pago Valdebellón 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the highest vineyard, Pago Gardana 100% Syrah and Pago Negralada 100% Tempranillo. All three were quite superb, with a sophisticated density of vineyard fruit that all great wines pos - sess. I was also given a bottle of the estate's top-selling wine, the blended Selección Especial 2012, but this will be kept for Christmas. Abadía Retuerta's Pago Valdebellón Cabernet Sauvignon is from the estate's highest vineyard.