All great stories begin with a dream. Didier Belondrade’s was none other than to create a White Wine with a capital “W” in the land of Cervantes.
The idea germinated in 1992, when the French couple Didier Belondrade and Brigitte Lurton tasted their first Verdejo wine. Love at first sight! Making wine and the wine business were not new to them, with deep roots in Bordeaux, but this wine made them think about a new project. And in 1994, the foundation stone of the project was laid with the establishment in Nava Del Rey, a solid commitment to the Castilian plateau terroir and an indigenous grape variety: Verdejo.
And in 1996, the dream materialized with the launch of the first vintage; for the first time, BELONDRADE Y LURTON earned a place on Spain’s finest tables. Thanks to an excellent reception from critics and customers, BELONDRADE’s reputation echoed across the world. The first steps were taken in the Japanese and American markets.
Three years later, with the aim of making BELONDRADE a “Bordeaux château in Spain,” it was essential to establish the project’s foundation on a key principle: owning its vineyards. This is how Quinta San Diego began to take shape with the planting of the first four parcels: “Tomillar Grande,” “Tomillar Pequeño,” “Camino Ventosa,” and “Bodega.”
Today, BELONDRADE has 40 hectares of its own vineyards divided into 23 parcels of different sizes. This mosaic of vineyards produces very different musts depending on the type of soil of each parcel, their orientation, age, rootstocks, and clones.
BELONDRADE’s vineyard is located about 750 meters above sea level and a few kilometers from the Douro River near Tordesillas. The climate is continental with low rainfall (between 300 and 350 mm per year), characterized by long, cold winters and short, hot summers, with a large temperature difference between day and night.
The plateau soils are of Cenozoic (or Tertiary) origin; they formed about 60 million years ago and are characterized by their low organic matter content. They are mainly composed of a layer of rolled pebbles about 10 to 60 centimeters deep, a subsoil layer of clay, and a deep layer of limestone. In each of the parcels, varying percentages of rolled pebbles, sand, and clay mix, giving the musts a unique personality and style.
The planting density ranges from 1,100 to 3,300 plants per hectare, with an average yield of 30 to 35 hectoliters per hectare. 100% of the vineyard is owned by the company, with an average age of twenty-five years.
As a proponent of sustainable and environmentally friendly viticulture, BELONDRADE practices organic viticulture without herbicides or pesticides. In this way, it fosters the biodiversity present in the vineyard and moves closer to the most natural and authentic expression of the “terroir.”
