September, 2026
In the day and age of AI this is a story of real people and land.
Raices Ibericas
For those who follow my stories might recall that I was at BWW (Barcelona Wine World) again last February. This time I was determined to find out more about lesser known wine regions in Spain. And while walking through the halls I spotted a winery I never heard of, not a real surprise. Yet I quickly got engaged with a gentleman who turned out to be the owner. After a very nice conversation he invites me to the harvest festival of his winery in the fall.
Since I am a very curious and adventurous person I told myself to give it a go. So off I go to visit Calatayud where I have never been before and wines I hardly knew besides the ones I tasted at his stand in Barcelona which were very good.
What I got to experience over the next three days was just out of this world and filled with people who care for what the do.
Mark, the owner who had a successful career running a wine import company in Belgium, showed me around some impressive vineyards and of course, the winery he took over before the conglomerate was going bankrupt.
But his was only the beginning, on Friday evening he held a Riedel Glass tasting dinner complemented by his wines in a traditional local restaurant amongst another 70 or so of his business partners and employees.
Saturday was fully packed with visits to some of the highest wine growing plots in DO Calatayud, a briefing by a local geologist followed by a barrel tasting with lunch at a very spectacular site overlooking the scenery.
In the evening was the Fiesta de la Vendimia (harvest festival) back at the winery with hundreds of locals and a pop band on stage entertaining the crowd.
Last but not least was the auction of the best scoring barrel of the 2025 vintage for a good cause, Viu Autisme, an organization helping families with children who have autism, followed by another dinner.
This is, what I believe the resurgence of Calatayud as a wine region, made possible by Mark and his team at Raices Ibericas. I would very much encourage you to give these wines a try or even better get deeper informed with the project which is multi-fascinated!
