Finca Museum, Vinea Cigales Crianza 2017

Grapes for the `Vinea` Crianza are sourced from a plot of 50-yearold bush-trained vines situated at 750 metres above sea level. Soils here are very poor, with layers of gravel, sand, limestone and chalk over clay and sand. The old vines produce low yields of very concentrated grapes. Harvest is carried out by hand into small crates, no higher than 90cm, to avoid crushing the grapes before they arrive at the winery.

After the grapes were brought into the winery, a pre-fermentation maceration took place at 5ºC in stainless-steel vats, to extract both colour and flavour from the grapes. They were then fermented at 27ºC, with short but frequent pumping over to
achieve a full-bodied wine with a fruity personality and good structure. The wine spent 14 months in oak barrels, 60% American
oak and 40% French oak. After a natural stabilising process, the wine was bottled in September 2012 and rested in the cellars at controlled temperature and humidity levels until labelling. As a result of this process it has some natural sediment.

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, it is the Tinta del País, a thicker skinned Tempranillo, that excels today. The continental climate of Cigales (with temperatures reaching 40°C in the summer, even at 700 metres above sea level) and the soils poor in organic matter combine to ensure low yields and great wines. The vines are on average 40 years old and one of the reasons they have survived is because the soils are too poor to grow other crops such as cereal. As the name suggests, the winery is also a museum, with sculpture and paintings dating back to the 17th century.