Although Beatriz Herranz and Félix Crespo tend the vines and make the wines, the history of Barco del Corneta draws on the vineyards that Beatriz’s grandfather owned in the village of La Seca in Valladolid. There, in an area known as Cantarranas at 700 metres elevation, lie the family’s five and a half hectares of vineyards; they are right next to a pine grove which gives its name to Barco del Corneta and which used to be her family’s meeting point during the harvest fiestas. Dry-farmed and organically grown, Verdejo vines are planted on sandy, pebbly soils with limestone in their deepest layers.

Beatriz’s mother, who helps out in the vineyard ever since she retired from her job as a teacher, explains that vineyards have existed in the area since the 11th century. María Antonia Sanz replanted her family vineyard in 2008, when Beatriz was completing her studies in Agriculture and Winemaking. She learnt the theory here but where she really understood grape growing and winemaking was in Gredos. There she got involved in a project to recover old Garnacha vineyards in Cebreros producing a wine called La Fábula. She also became friends with winemaker Félix Crespo, who joined Barco del Corneta in 2016.

The wines

Beatriz returned to La Seca in 2013 but she made her first wine in the region in 2010. Barco del Corneta (15,000 bottles, €23) is a clean, austere Verdejo with a personality of its own, unlike many of the technological wines that had come to dominate region. To make it, Beatriz and Félix harvest by hand in boxes, press the grapes without destemming, use native yeasts and leave the wine in used barrels with the lees in suspension for around eight to nine months. They have not only achieved a wine with great precision and volume but well built for ageing.

Cucú (50,000 bottles, €9.50) is their most accesible wine. Part of the grapes come from La Seca, with more structure, and part are sourced from an organic grower in Segovia, an area to the south-east of Rueda that they favour for its freshness. Half of the wine is fermented and aged for eight months in French oak barrels whereas the other 50% stays in stainless steel deposits.

A step up is Loseco (6,000 bottles, €15, Vino de España), Barco del Corneta's interpretation of a village wine from La Seca. It blends almost equal proportions of Viura and Verdejo, reflecting the traditional field blends once common in the area. Made with a low-intervention approach, the wine is aged primarily in stainless steel, with around 20% in barrel.

Together, these three wines form part of Barco del Corneta's broader effort to reconnect with the region's viticultural heritage. The project relies on close collaboration with local growers and focuses on varieties that, while not native to the region, have long been grown there and in some cases fallen into neglect. In the case of La Sillería, the team ultimately acquired the vineyard themselves.

Since 2014, Barco del Corneta has also been working in Arribes del Duero, on the Portuguese border, although the wines continue to be made at the winery in La Seca. The red Ladura (formerly released as Prapetisco; 2,000 bottles; €18) comes from four old-vine plots in Fermoselle, two planted on granite soils and two on slate, with Juan García as the dominant variety. In recent vintages, the emphasis has shifted towards earlier picking, reduced use of whole bunches, minimal oak influence and ageing in clay amphorae.