Bodegas Aylés: From Pago wines to plot wines
What is a pago?
A Pago is a rural place or site that has its own characteristics that differentiate and distinguish it from others in its environment.
Here we can already glimpse geographic elements, which generate to this location some exclusive qualities with the surrounding area.
These characteristics, such as climate, soil composition, proximity to wetlands, etc... are the ones that are the basis for the existence of a pago.
What is a vino de pago?
What should we take into account when we hear or read the words "Vino de Pago"?
We should look at that bottle with a different perspective and evaluate a series of factors that make that wine different from the rest.
Vino de Pago is a type of Spanish Protected Designation of Origin for wines that guarantees the origin of grapes and wine from a specific Pago with specific characteristics.
The existence of a microclimate in that Pago, the soil type, the orientation of the vineyards, the close proximity to rivers or mountains... all these factors make a vineyard produce wines that are different, usually of higher quality, from those of the area.
The wines that have specific protection are the wines with PGI (Protected Geographical Indication), DO (Denomination of Origin) and Pago, and it is precisely the latter wines that are most thoroughly protected and regulated.
All wines subject to this denomination must meet a series of requirements, but we will focus on:
- The pago must be within a Protected Designation of Origin.
- The estate must be known by a name traditionally linked to the cultivation of the vineyards from which the wine is obtained.
- All grapes to be used to make the wine must come from vineyards located in the given pago and the wine must be made, stored and aged separately from other wines.
- In the production of the Pago wines an integral quality system will be implemented, which will be applied from the production of the grapes to the placing on the market of the wines.
In the Spanish wine quality pyramid, Pago occupies the highest level
In Spain we have 19 single vineyard wines
12 in Castilla la Mancha
3 in the Valencian Community
3 in Navarra
1 in Aragón (Pago Ayles)
Pago de Aylés, Pago de Aylés, Vinos de pago with history
To get to know Pago de Aylés better we must go back to its origins in medieval times.
Bodega founded in 1998, the history of Aylés begins in the Middle Ages and since then it has always been considered a privileged environment for the cultivation of vines and the production of quality wine.
A particular microclimate, together with different soil conditions and other characteristics make Aylés the only Vino de Pago de Aragón, a concept similar to the Premier Grand Cru Classé.
What is the secret of Pago de Aylés?
The unique enclave
An impressive landscape full of contrasts crossed by the river Huerva that draws spectacular ravines in front of the unalterable presence of the San Pablo mountain. Clayey, limestone and calcareous soils give essence to this environment of deep caves and underground rivers
Without a doubt, an authentic Pago with its own characteristics that differentiate and distinguish it with such a wealth of fauna that the European Union has classified it as a Special Protection Area for Birds (SPA).
The terroir of Pago de Aylés
Exceptional soils for vines as they are chalky, calcareous, deep, stony, but also clayey, cold and, above all, very old.
In a semi-arid climate, this is the key to maintaining quality. The clays allow spring water to accumulate and be available for the rest of the cycle.
The Climate, extreme
Extreme with dry and cold winters, very changeable spring and very hot summers. In summer, the temperature difference between day and night reaches 20°C.
Low rainfall, but the composition of the soils facilitates water storage capacity
The location of the vineyard is privileged
Open to the wind, closed to the warm winds by the mountain range and protected from the last rays of the day's sun (especially in summer) by the mountain to the west favours a long and late vegetative and ripening cycle.
The pampered vineyard
The Pago vineyard covers an area of 47 hectares of Garnacha, Tempranillo, Cabernet-Sauvignon and Merlot. The location of the vineyard, around the winery, allows the grapes to start the winemaking process immediately after being harvested.
Sustainable viticulture
The practice of sustainable viticulture, in the process of accreditation as an organic vineyard,
Pioneers in night harvesting in order to keep all the properties of our grapes intact and respect the fruit and the "terroir"
Differential vineyard management that involves a personalised management of each vineyard in order to achieve individualised objectives.
The effort is rewarded
After several years of studies and analysis of all these factors, in October 2010, it was recognised as Vino de Pago, the highest level of quality that a Spanish winery can achieve.
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It is since then the only Pago wine from Aragón.
The wines of Pago de Aylés
A de Aylés
First Pago wine from Aragón and the only young Vino de Pago in Spain
Coupage of Merlot, Tempranillo, Garnacha and Cabernet -Sauvignon, with 3 months of French oak barrels
Y from Aylés
Oak wood and single vineyard wine... the perfect combination
Coupage of Merlot, Tempranillo, Garnacha and Cabernet -Sauvignon, with 6 months in French oak barrels.
L de Ayles
Spain's only rosé wine of payment.
Rosé that combines Grenache and Cabernet-Sauvignon , aged in oak barrels for 5 months.
E de Aylés
First single varietal Pago de AYLES launched on the market.
100% Tempranillo with night harvesting.
Did you know that...
S de Aylés
It is the most awarded wine of Pago de Ayles.
This single-varietal Garnacha wine won in 2018 one of the most prestigious awards in the national food industry.
The government's Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food awarded it the prize for the 'best wine of Spain 2018'
Specifically, "Food of Spain Award for the best wine 2018"
3 out of 3000
The 3 best hectares, 1 hectare of Garnacha, 1 hectare of Cabernet-Sauvignon and 1 hectare of Merlot are selected from the 3,000 hectares of the estate.
To create this wine, which rests for 12 months in French and American oak barrels before being released on the market.
New! Aylés has presented some impressive new plot wines
After many years of practising sustainable agriculture and starting in 2016 with 100% organic, traditional, but minimal agriculture, we have been seeing a different evolution in the terroir of the estate.
We have been able to translate them into different wines in the style of those first single-vineyard wines in 2010.
This precision viticulture has further marked the difference between the different soils of the estate and has allowed the implementation of a different winemaking process for each area.
In this evolution, a special difference has been noted between two parcel areas, Cuesta del Herrero and Senda de Leñadores. This is the reason why the wines are named after them.
It has been in 2017 when all these practices and changes resulted in a new wine from the Senda de Leñadores area and culminates this first stage of the process in 2018 with the second parcel wine Cuesta del Herrero.
SENDA DE LEÑADORES 2017
Senda de leñadores 2017 is the first wine made by Bodegas Ayles.
A wine that unites Tempranillo and Grenache to express the dry conditions and the clay component of the plot that give the wine a powerful and elegant structure.
This power is tamed during 10 months in French oak barrels with various uses.
Wine that has a cellaring potential of up to 10 years.
CONTENT OF THE HERRERO 2018
A wine that expresses through the Merlot, Tempranillo, Grenache and Cabernet-Sauvignon varieties the unique characteristics of this plot and with a cellaring potential of up to 7 years.
The soils of the vineyards where it comes from have a higher calcium component, are mostly sandy and with some pebbles. This soil composition results in fresher and fruitier wines.
These expressions are rounded off for 6 months in French oak barrels of first or second use.
Friends Enbotellad@s , you already know more about vinos de pago, so the next time you see it on a menu or in a conversation, know that they are referring to these unique wines and not to whether the person who has it has paid for it or has been given it as a gift.
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