Vinos Sinceros

Vinos Sinceros is the personal project of Luis Martín de la Fuente, born in Lerma (Burgos) in 1967 and one of the most knowledgeable figures in Castilian wine — since 2010 he has run Vinoval, a wine promotion company with over 800 references. The project grew out of the recovery of abandoned vineyards in the heart of DO Arlanza, an appellation that follows the Arlanza River valley — a Duero tributary — through central Burgos and southeastern Palencia. With barely 440 hectares and DO status only since 2007, Arlanza is one of Castilla's smallest denominations: higher than Ribera del Duero, with most vineyards above 1,000 metres, harvest beginning in October, and wines of greater acidity and lighter extraction than its famous neighbour to the south.

Luis works around 70 parcels near Covarrubias and Lerma on calcareous, stony soils, most of them old and co-planted with multiple varieties. The name Colina Triste comes from the Sad Hill Cemetery, the circular duelling arena from the final scene of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966), filmed at the foot of Peña Carazo, a few kilometres from these vineyards — the Arlanza River itself played the Rio Grande. The first vintage was 2016, the film's 50th anniversary. Luis found his own treasure in the valley: century-old abandoned vines. The red blends Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mencía and Bobal from old vines; the Colina Triste Blanco is a singular co-fermentation of Viura, Malvasía, Chasselas, Albillo Mayor and Rojal — all co-planted in a single old parcel — with spontaneous fermentation and partial barrel contact.

La Viña de Mis Ojos ("the vineyard of my eyes") is his most personal wine: Brancellao vines over 150 years old on chalky sandy soils in Lerma — a Galician variety at this age and altitude in Burgos is remarkable — vinified in used 500-litre French oak barrels for 20 months. Just 700 bottles. All wines follow the same philosophy: no added yeasts, old neutral wood, recovered heritage varieties, minimal intervention.