ARROCAL, BODEGAS

This winery was founded by third generation winegrowers, Moises Calvo and Rosa Arroyo in 2002. In that wet and rainy vintage, a winery backed out of a contract to purchase their fruit. So, they harvested the fruit, thinned every bunch by hand (lots of botrytis) and borrowed a tank to produce their first wine. The original idea was to sell the wine in bulk, but they ended up bottling it and selling it under their own label; Arrocal.

The name of the winery comes from the first syllable of each of the owners, Arro- from Arroyo and -cal from Calvo.

Moises and Rosa have been joined by the fourth generation with the addition of their two sons Rodrigo and Asier. The winery is located in Gumiel de Mercado a small village in the western portion of the Ribera del Duero D.O.

Some of their vineyards were planted by their parents while the youngest vines have been planted by their sons. A new winery was built and utilized for the 2005 vintage.

With the completion of the new winery, all movement of wine through the winery takes place by gravity to minimize rough handling and maximize fruit expression and finesse in texture of finished wine. Fruit expression is maximized through temperature controlled fermentations, utilizing short macerations and gentle pressing in low capacity basket press.