Bertrand’s work centres around a little village called San Esteban de Gormaz, 70km west of the town of Soria. High, dry, cold and very remote, the vineyards are organically grown and biodynamically farmed at around 1,000m above sea level with 50% owned and 50% rented, consisting of almost 200 separate small plots. Different soils are vinified separately and then blended before barrel ageing. 50% of the wine hails from the village of Soto de San Esteban (west of San Esteban de Gormaz) – mainly sand & river stone soils (no limestone). North of San Esteban de Gormaz are the hamlets of Matanza and Villalvaro, where the soils are red clay over limestone and these make up 20% of the blend. The balance is from sand-limestone soils in San Esteban itself, Quintanilla de tres Barios to the north and Mino de San Esteban to the south. The fruit is carefully sorted and destemmed, then given a short, cool 8-10 days fermentation in concrete vats, with the aim of achieving a gentle, delicate extraction. The wine then spends 10 months in 2-5 year old French barriques (ex Château Haut-Brion). The aim is to make a wine, which Bertrand calls “sensible – pure and direct”