CASA AURORA, GERMÁN BLANCO, BIERZO ALTO (VILLA DE ALBARES)

Casa Aurora is an outcome of high altitude, organic vine growing in the Upper Bierzo area. This is a personal project of German Blanco, whose family history brought him back to the village of his grandparents – Villa de Albares.

Weather difficulties and the mining boom (coal and gold) made people abandon wine production in the area. The vine growers who remained are now striving to recover, and Casa Aurora is at the center of this revival. German works with 3 vineyards planted with array of local grape varieties many decades ago. The vineyards total 5 hectares, so production is very small. The vines are in the villages of Albares de la Ribera and San Esteban. The soil here is mostly clayey (red clay with a high content of iron) with some sand and stones on the surface.