This very unique Castilian white is born in a place planted at high altitude, around 1,250 meters above sea level. She pampers him, with the help of his children, the octogenarian widow Felipa Martínez Camarero. Even today, it is Felipa who decides when the white grapes of her albillo mayor are harvested, born from two small hawthorns, planted between 1920 and 1930 and which barely add up to one hectare. Felipa is one of the seven neighbors who resides all year round in Briongos de Cervera, an entity belonging to the municipality of Ciruelos de Cervera.
The twisted old glass vines were planted in Briongos de Cervera, at the foot of what is known as La Valdosa, the highest altitude of the Cervera mountain range, in the Burgos lands where the Esgueva river, a tributary of the Pisuerga, originates. In this remote place with sandy and calcareous soils, where there are hardly any vineyards left, they protect the vines one by one, covering them with nets to prevent birds from eating the grapes that make the Aire Norte wine from Bodegas Palacio de Lerma. The name of this wine refers to the popular Burgos expression ‘levantar el Norte’, the cold wind that hits these Castilian lands.
The Aire Norte 2022 grapes are harvested by hand, in 15 kilo boxes. Upon entering the winery, they are stepped on with their feet, without destemming, which facilitates drainage. Alcoholic fermentation takes place spontaneously, with native yeasts, in stainless steel tanks. They transfer the wine through peristaltic pumping, without oxidation, without hitting and gently. They say that theirs are “powerful wines that are balanced and delicate on the palate.”
In Lerma, the summers are short, hot, dry and mostly clear and the winters are long, very cold, windy and partly cloudy. Over the course of the year, the temperature generally varies from -1°C to 29°C, rarely falling below -5°C or rising above 34°C. In the 2022 vintage, according to data from the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), a maximum temperature of 39.3º C was reached on July 18; and the minimum was recorded on January 14, with 7.8º C. The intense rains in December, with 85.2 liters per square meter, did not alleviate the drought. The year closed with 25% less rain in the capital (despite the 409 liters collected).
Aire Norte 2022 is pale straw yellow in color. Sharp and bright. It shows clear notes of fruit (apple, pineapple and, especially, ripe stones like peaches) and white flowers. It offers a glyceric tactile sensation, but with a good acidity that makes it sharp. This acidity compensates for its 14.3º of alcohol. With a subtle final saline note, which makes it sapid. It makes you salivate. A singular, round white with a certain complexity that is more of a palate than a nose. The manager and owner of this Lerma winery, Ramiro García Arnáiz, states that it is “a higher altitude albillo, with a marked freshness.” And he adds that “in the mouth, its volume and fat make it especially gastronomic.” Ramiro likes to pair it with some scallops given their “saline touch.” It is also ideal with the grilled scallops with hollandaise sauce from the Galoria restaurant on Calle Mayor in Lerma, and even with the churro lamb sweetbreads with PGI Castilla y León from the restaurant at the Tres Coronas hotel in Santo Domingo de Silos, located in a stately building from 1745.
Bodegas Palacio de Lerma is the result of the manufacturing tradition of an entire family for more than a century. From this wine project protected by the DO Arlanza it is stated that “the care of the vines, the treading of the grapes, the racking and the love in the production processes ensure that it has lasted from grandparents to grandchildren. The main objective of this winery is “to produce a high-quality wine, a product that lives up to our family tradition; a tradition that dates back to more than a century of work in the world of viticulture, where we have managed to make winemaking a way of understanding life.”
The owner of the winery, Ramiro García Arnáiz, is the grandson of artisanal producers, and continues this work combining technology and art in the production and aging of wines. Ramiro, who also chairs the regulatory council of the DO Arlanza, states that “tasting a wine from Palacio de Lerma is savoring the landscape of Arlanza and feeling the passion in its production.” The winery takes its name from the Ducal Palace of Lerma, with stone walls, more than 200 iron balconies and four towers with slate roofs. They claim that this 17th century palace, which the Duke of Lerma ordered to be built on top of a medieval castle, was the envy of the court. A royal wedding was held here, a queen gave birth and Napoleon Bonaparte slept.
Ramiro García Arnáiz explains that “it all started playing… we were children and my grandfather Agustín would put us in the winepress to tread grapes, it was very fun to crush grapes and get the juice out, I still feel the cold sensation of the must and the scrapes entering between my fingers from the feet”. He adds that “when we got tired of stepping, our grandfather would put us inside the vats to feed the staves, because the older ones couldn’t fit in… We grew up and the porrón with wine was part of the daily life, always at home at the disposal of the staff. He took his boot to work in the fields. I remember that since I was a child I used to suck on a jug, take small sips and snack on bread with wine and sugar.”
In the 90s they saw the Ribera del Duero boom emerge, “and everyone wanted to open a winery.” He remembers “friends who had never harvested or drank wine, nor ever seen a hawthorn, who got into the wine business. We were not on that train…” The granting of the DO Arlanza was delayed year after year, “leaving our area and its wines outside of the commercial promotion that having the DO seal entailed. Many winegrowers, faced with the low price paid for grapes, chose to uproot the vines and dedicate themselves to the cereal that provided less trouble and more profit. For years I have seen the decline and abandonment of a wine area such as Arlanza, our wines were eclipsed year after year by the overwhelming wines and great wineries of our neighbors in Ribera del Duero and Rioja.”
Despite this panorama, Ramiro explains that “today, a small group of winegrowers and winemakers in the area claim to value what should never have been lost, recover the value and influence that Arlanza viticulture has had on their people, in their economy and in the neighboring provinces.”
The owner of Palacio de Lerma states that they make microvinifications of extreme plots and vineyards (limit zones), high altitude vineyards, seeking radicality as an element of identity. “I want my wines to taste like the extreme landscape they come from, I don’t want common wines that are drinkable for the majority. I want unusual, extraordinary wines for minorities,” he explains. In this sense, he points out that “tired of drinking more of the same, of the impersonal nature of wines that are the result of laboratory winemaking protocols, of yeasts, of enzymes, of excess wood, of moving and making the wine dizzy… I am looking for a regression to the past, to the purity, to the typicity of the wines, to the minimum intervention… that is why I go to the limit.”
He recognizes that “My wines are not for everyone, and with this I am not saying that they are for experts. I make wines for people who, in addition to enjoying the wine itself, wonder where it comes from, they wonder what the producer wanted to express in it, who perceive the feeling that each wine carries and its reason for being. People with an open predisposition to drink differently, to drink a wine above its brand, to drink a place or landscape more than an Allier or Missouri oak. People who want to have an experience with living wines that change, that speak to you, that evolve…”
Bodegas Palacio de Lerma produced around 32,000 bottles in 2022. They practically do not export. Only 1% of its production is destined for international markets. Japan, Hong Kong and Switzerland are its main international markets. Their main sales are made at the warehouse. They have also opened up to wine tourism. They affirm that “the great wineries, the avant-garde designs, the guided tours of just listening… are already seen.” That is why they propose “returning to the origin.” They offer everything from tastings touring the vineyards, paired meals, field workshops or blind tastings to “making your own wine by making your own blend, contributing your personality and tastes to a wine.”
