This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)
Today on our blog, we’d like to bring you one of our wines once again, this time one that has the most history and, therefore, the most sentimental value. We’re talking about Pago Florentino, a tribute to Florentino Arzuaga, our winery’s founder and the person who outlined the steps to be followed in terms of making the wines and understanding the grapes.
Pago Florentino 2017 is a very versatile wine that can be paired perfectly with different dishes, such as black pudding from Burgos, large game from our Ribera region such as hare with chocolate, strong sauces or grilled fatty meats with enough strength,’ as Ignacio Arzuaga, the managing director of Bodegas Arzuaga, notes.
Another of this wine’s most important characteristics is on the outside, on its label. This is because here, you can find an interesting detail at the top, where a small figure of Don Quixote appears. This identifying feature serves to associate this red wine with the origin of its grapes, as the Pago Florentino estate is located in Malagón, in the region of Castile-La Mancha. For that reason, at Bodegas Arzuaga we chose the figure of Don Quixote to create this link with Manchegan culture.
The key characteristic of the Malagón vineyard is its southern orientation, as Ignacio Arzuaga explains. It’s in the foothills of the Toledo mountains, ‘an old range, and therefore very eroded by time. The entire foot of the mountain is clayey and covered with stones that have a high iron content, giving it its characteristic orange colour,’ he explains. There is also a small lake on the estate that provides moisture both to the vineyard and the stones.
Another key characteristic of this estate is that it gets many hours of sun. This is why Ignacio Arzuaga acknowledges that ‘the grapes are going to ripen more and this will make the wine have mild flavours of liquorice, blackberry, blueberries, coffee, chocolate… In addition to having a fairly pronounced mineral note’.
Pago Florentino is a single variety wine made using the Cencibel grapes and aged for 12 months in French and American oak. We don’t want the oak to be the main feature, however, but rather the ripe fruit that defines this wine that we’re sure you’ll enjoy in the best company. Cheers!