Jorge Temprado is part of the winemaking team at Bodegas San Alejandro in Calatayud and since 2021 he runs his own project outside the DO in La Vilueña, the village where he was born.
His maternal grandfather, who used to farm vines, always encouraged him to become a wine grower and that’s just what he has done, starting from scratch. Between 2018 and 2022 he planted 5 ha as it was done in the old days: dry-farmed, bush vines. Density is just a little higher to be able to farm one kilo of grapes per vine. Following the meticulous work carried out by Vitis Navarra to recover different Garnacha biotypes, he planted this variety as well as some Macabeo. Soils are slate on a layer of clay. For tilling he uses a crawler tractor and does the rest of farming tasks by hand.
His idea is to back up his own vines with old plots that he hopes to be able to buy in the area or have access to in the future. For now, he farms an old vineyard in a neighboring village planted to a little known grape variety called Derechero de Muniesa.
The wines are fermented with full clusters, devatted after a couple of weeks and later aged in seasoned barrels in the basement of the family home. He made fewer than 1,000 bottles on the first 2021 vintage but Temprado hopes to fill 10,000 bottles in the future.
His only wine so far is named Cuqueiro, a local word to refer to the thumb. It is a fresh, fragrant red, with red fruit aromas and plenty of aromatic herbs. Savoury, highly drinkable and with a citrusy, vibrant finish.
