Barco del Corneta - La Seca, Valladolid, Castilla y León

Barco del Corneta began sailing in 2007, when Beatriz Herranz returned to her hometown and planted five hectares of Verdejo on old family land in the village of La Seca.  During the first years, Beatriz combined her work in the La Seca vineyard with her work in the wineries of Méntrida and later in Cebreros.  In 2010, Beatriz and a group of friends created the first vintage of Barco del Corneta.  Félix Crespo could not be absent among those friends and the project continues until this day.  Together they have created an artisan wine; a Verdejo that is farmed organically, harvested by hand, fermented with wild natural yeasts, and a very different wine from the typical of the Verdejo variety.

Barco del Corneta Cucú (Cantaba La Rana) 2022

100% Verdejo planted at 750-850 meters in the Cantarranas ecological vineyard (planted 2008), in La Seca and the Aldeanueva del Codonal vineyards, in Segovia.

Winemaking:  Direct press with spontaneous fermentation and aging in stainless steel (80%) and 300L Used French Oak (20%) for 4 months. Gentle clarification and filtration before bottling.

Production: 8,000 cases

Barco del Corneta 2020

100% Verdejo planted at 750-850 meters in the Cantarranas ecological vineyard (planted 2008), in La Seca.

Winemaking:  Hand harvested in 10 kilo boxes and taken to the cellar where the clusters are also selected by hand. Barrel fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged 9 months on the lees without bâtonnage. Gentle clarification and filtration before bottling without cold stabilization.

Production: 612 cases (20 cases imported)

Barco del Corneta 2021

100% Verdejo planted at 750-850 meters in the Cantarranas ecological vineyard (planted 2008), in La Seca.

Winemaking:  Hand harvested in 10 kilo boxes and taken to the cellar where the clusters are also selected by hand. Barrel fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged 10 months on the lees without bâtonnage. Gentle clarification and filtration before bottling without cold stabilization.

Production: 1,041 cases (25 cases imported)

Barco del Corneta La Sillería 2021

100% Verdejo from a 100+ year-old pre-phylloxera vineyard of only 0.8 hectares in Alcazarén at 750 meters.

Winemaking:  Hand harvested in 10 kilo boxes and taken to the cellar where the clusters are also selected by hand. Barrel fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged 12 months on the lees and an additional 4 months in tank. Gentle clarification and filtration before bottling without cold stabilization.

Production: 138 cases (7 cases imported)

RP 91+:  Barco del Corneta Cucú 2023

Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

Issue Date: June 13, 2024

The super young and tender Verdejo 2023 Cucú is their regional white that mixes places and soils, using organic grapes only from the zones of Segovia and Valladolid. It fermented in stainless steel and some 10% in used 300-liter barrels to give it some more complexity and unctuosity. There is a pulse of freshness, but it's also ripe and has 13.5% alcohol. It's very young, tender and varietal, getting away from fermentative aromas and, of course, yeasts, as they want to show the zone and the variety (and the year). It has some medicinal and balsamic notes from the youth, and underneath is the core of white flowers and fruit. It has volume and structure but is still fresh, light and easy to drink; it has the classical Verdejo bitter twist in the finish. They picked the grapes quite early in La Seca, and Segovia was much later.

RP 94:  Barco del Corneta 2020

Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

Issue Date: January 31, 2023

The expressive, open, clean and varietal Verdejo 2020 Barco del Corneta was produced with grapes from a single plot and fermented with indigenous yeasts in 300-, 500- and 600-liter oak barrels where the wine matured with the lees (without bâtonage) for nine months. 2020 was a cooler and wetter year, and the wine shows good ripeness without excess, with 13.5% alcohol and a pH of 3.2 denoting freshness. It's evolving slowly in bottle and has the ingredients and balance to develop nicely in bottle. Very serious, austere and mineral, very good! 7,343 bottles were filled in September 2021.

RP 93:  Barco del Corneta 2021

Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

Issue Date: January 31, 2023

Tasted next to the 2020 the 2021 Barco del Corneta feels a little riper and rounder, reflecting a slightly warmer end of the season with a barrel-fermented wine that finished with 13.9% alcohol and a pH of 3.27, keeping the balance. The oak is well integrated, as they used different sizes of barrels—300, 500 and 600 liters, only 10% new—where the wine was kept for nine months with the lees but no bâtonnage. This comes from their vines in La Seca, organically farmed and certified, and the wine shows serious and with some austerity on the palate despite the warmer year and the rounder wine. It's 12,327 bottles. It was bottled in August 2022.

RP 93+:  Barco del Corneta 2022

Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

Issue Date: June 13, 2024

The eponymous white 2022 Barco del Corneta was cropped from a very warm and dry year. It's produced with the grapes from their vines in the Cantarranas lieu-dit of the village of La Seca and the origin of the project. It's from 5.5 hectares of 16-year-old vines on sandy and limestone soils typical of the Duero zone, worked organically and, in the last three years, with cover crops trying to improve the soil structure and balance of the vines. It fermented in 300-, 500- and 600-liter French and Austrian oak barrels, but all the new ones they buy are either 500 or 600 liters. As in many places, the result is much better than expected, the balance in the vineyards through organic work and lots of viticulture shows in the wines. It has a beautiful nose with some reductive hints, opening up to aromas of tangerine peel and notes of hay and straw, and it's quite varietal and ripe without excess, with 13.5% alcohol and a pH of 3.29 denoting freshness. It's very tasty, with a chalky granularity and a dry finish with the varietal bitter twist. 14,500 bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2023.

RP 95:  Barco del Corneta La Sillería 2021

Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

Issue Date: June 13, 2024

The 2021 Parajes del Infierno La Sillería is a barrel-fermented and -aged Verdejo from ungrafted centenary vines in Alcazarén (still in the province of Valladolid) on sandy and limestone soils that produce a more austere and mineral wine. It has moderate ripeness, 13.5% alcohol and a pH of 3.19, finishing bone dry, tasty and almost salty, tasty from the limestone. It fermented and matured in 500- and 600-liter Austrian oak barrels for 12 months and then was transferred to stainless steel to use the barrels for the new harvest and was bottled a few months later. It starts very austere and serious and takes time to open up in the glass. It's subtle and elegant, with great balance, volume, texture, freshness and elegance with a pulse of freshness, acidity and length. This is really outstanding. 1,656 bottles were filled in July 2023.

Decanter 93 - Barco del Corneta Cucú 2021

Reviewed by: Sarah Jane Evans, MW

Barco del Corneta's old-vine Verdejo is sourced from outside the Rueda DO, but this is such a vibrant and joyous example it has to be included here.  It's unoaked and gloriously vivid with lime leaf, lemon zest, racy acidity and a burst of succulent stone fruit.  Organic.  Drink 2022-2026 Alc 13.5%.