Finca Museum Museum Reserva 2016 Cigales

100% Tempranillo

Finca Museum is based in Cigales, a small DO located in Castilla y León, east of Valladolid. Although the area was once known for its dry rosados, a result of co-fermenting field blends of red and white varieties, it is the Tinta del País, a thicker-skinned Tempranillo, that excels today. As the name suggests, the winery is also a museum, with sculptures and paintings dating back to the 17th century.

The extreme continental climate of Cigales (with temperatures ranging from 40°C in the summer to -10°C in the winter) and the soils poor in organic matter combine to ensure low yields and great wines. The soils are so poor that other crops such as cereal are unable to grow. It’s primarily for this reason that the vines, many now over 40 years old, have survived in Cigales. The low-yielding, high altitude bush vines (up to 800m above sea level) produce very thick-skinned grapes, which results in wines of intense colour and concentration. Finca Museum own 185 hectares of vineyards with a further 100 hectares of old bush vines that they buy from growers on long-term contracts, which are more than 50 years old. All the vineyards are hand harvested with great care into small crates no higher than 90cm so as not to crush the grapes before they arrive at the winery. Great care is taken in selecting the grapes before crushing, and on average 5% of grapes are rejected during this selection process.