When Spain joined the EU in the 1990’s, the Friás Family in Ponferrada (DO Bierzo) was left with a dairy farm they could no longer operate due to a beaurocratic agreement that dictated France would retain major dairy farming within the structure of the European Union. The family asked their young 20-year-old neighbor, Raul Perez, for help converting their dairy farm to a winery. Raul, already considered by his community to be ludicrous for his outlandish ideas about low intervention winemaking, helped to secure parcels of old vineyards from surrounding families to establish a new winery, Bodegas Estefania. Today Bodegas Estefania has one of the largest concentrations of old vines vineyards in Bierzo: 32 hectares of the finest plots personally selected by Raul for their fine, old Mencia bush vines and located on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail. Raul also strategically grafted Godello varietals within the acquired property. Thus, Tilenus Wines were “born,” encompassing the two coveted indigenous grape varietals of Bierzo: Mencia and Godello. Indeed, this property is currently in the certification process to become one of Spain’s rare “Grand Cru” designated vineyards, only found elsewhere in Priorat, Spain.
Bodegas Estefania is currently halfway through the five-year process of organic certification. Even in northwestern Spain, the proximity to the ocean creates a damp climate. Winemaking is minimal intervention: the hand harvested grapes are fermented with stems unless the grapes have been dehydrated, and Raul has found a perfect balance between early harvesting and long macerations (two to five months). This allows him to preserve acidity while extracting and polymerizing tannins through the use of natural oxygenation in oak. Pérez no longer uses cooling devices in his winery and his wines are aged either in foudres or used barrels. In recent times, he has been using flor (a veil of yeasts) to gain complexity and as a means of natural protection during the ageing process to avoid adding sulphur.
