SPAIN
Grupo Yllera
The Yllera family is the sixth generation of vine growers and producers. Together with Ramón Martinez Palacios, an oenologist from La Rioja, they are the proud owners of Grupo Yllera. This group represents three different "bodegas", situated in the DO’s of Rueda, Ribera del Duero and Toro, in the heart of the Castilla y León region, alongside the Duero River.
Rueda is a very famous DO in Castile, for its production of very good white wines. The winery and headquarters in Rueda uses modern technology to make its Viña Cantosán white wines from Verdejo grapes. The cellar is a monumental construction built over an ancient Moorish cave dating from the 14th century and is an attraction in itself. It extends 20 meters underground, where thousands of bottles lie in ideal conditions. Inside this labyrinth, along an intricate path of over 1 km long called the “Thread of Ariadna”, Grupo Yllera displays its best-known wines matching them to an episode in Greek mythology, bringing wine and culture together through fabulous underground galleries, some of them intimately small while others are large and spacious.
On the northwestern side of Rueda lies the Toro DO. It became a DO in 1933, but its wine heritage stretches back to the Third Century. After the phyloxera invasion in the Nineteenth Century, the cultivation of the vine suffered a great change. It was then that the Tinta de Toro varietal, otherwise Tempranillo, got rooted in Toro’s sandy and well-drained soils. It is now the varietal that delivers the region’s best wines. The region is characterized by a Mediterranean climate (moderate, warm, dry). Very cold winters, dry summers and many hours of exposure to the sun provide the grapes in this area an exceptional character to make great wine.
Grupo Yllera takes optimal advantage of the different “terroirs” and the variety of vineyardsin the different DO’s to make high quality wines with a unique personality. The extreme care in grape handling and selection is the key factor in wine production at Grupo Yllera. The long experience and expertise of six generations have ensured demanding and thorough vineyard selection in Ribera del Duero, Rueda and Toro, where the strictest quality management is applied, in accordance with the numerous parameters set out by the company. A team of agricultural engineers, along with technological advanced equipment are set out to preserve the maximum “terroir” and grape character and expressiveness.
Gruppo Yllera has received hundred's of awards at national and international levels and keeps increasing every year. Mr. Marcos Yllera, president of the company says: "These awards motivate us to make things better every day. This is our main objective and principal philosophy: to work hard every day in order to make our wines ‘The Wise Choice’.”