Bodega Ermita del Conde

The vineyards of Ermita del Conde sit between 940 and 1012 metres above sea level and are mostly 70-100 years old. Barren soils and very hot summers alongside cold winters characterise the area. The result is barely 1000kg of grapes per hectare. That's impressive, but it's easy to imagine how much the vines here have to fight to survive. The wines are correspondingly dense and powerful, but multi-layered.

Just a stone's throw to the west is the well-known Ribera del Duero wine-growing region with very similar, almost identical conditions. Due to the fact that these are not Ribera wines, they are significantly cheaper than the price level of the top wines, but with the same quality.

It's nice when you can make such discoveries, although Ermita del Conde isn't much of a secret anymore.