Velvety smooth top wine from cool climate Asturias.

Wine connoisseurs might know that this grape is called Alfrocheiro in Portugal, but here in cool Asturias, they call it Albarin Negro. This Monasterio de Corias Valdemonje Albarin Negro is made from 100% Albarin Tinto. From grapes sourced exclusively from old vines on the best-oriented plots. Please note: this is truly something different. It is a fresh, juicy red wine. Pleasantly fruity with plenty of redcurrants and strawberries. Comparable to varieties such as Pinot Noir, Gamay, and, for example, Portuguese Baga. It is soft and delightfully easy to drink due to a good balance between fruit and light oak aging. No tannins, making it perfectly suitable as an aperitif. Now presented with a new label. They want to place more emphasis here on the fact that the vineyards formerly belonged to the monastery of Corias, now the Parador of Corias.

This Parador hotel, housed in a historic monument, is situated next to the bodega. It is ideal for combining a potential mini-vacation here with a visit to the bodega. They also have a good restaurant here and a lovely outdoor terrace, where they – naturally – serve Corias wines. This Monasterio de Corias Valdemonje Albarin Negro is delicious with light and cold meats such as raw ham, but also with a Spanish chicken from the oven. 

The Albarín negro grape is one of the autochthonous grapes from Cangas del Narcea, growing on the steep slate slopes near the old Corias monastery. Slate provides elegance and a certain lightness. For those looking for something different. The young, passionate winemakers make top wines! It's just a shame that the production of the Monasterio de Corias Valdemonje Albarin Negro is so limited...so order quickly!

Asturias – wine region? Absolutely, cool climate wines!

Asturias as a wine region… that is special! So special that even in Spain, people know Asturias for the Picos de Europa, the beautiful, tranquil coast, the cider, and especially for its abundance of cheese, but actually not at all for wine, even though viticulture was practiced in the region centuries ago by monks. Slowly but surely, Asturian wine is now coming into the picture. And rightly so; they have very special indigenous grapes: Albarin Blanco, Albarin Tinto, Verdejo Negro, and Carrasquin, as well as a very unique, deliciously fresh variant of Mencia. And they suspect there are even more undiscovered varieties… in any case, the Monasterio de Corias Valdemonje Albarin Negro is certainly something special.

Winegrowing in this area is not easy; there are plenty of vineyards, but they are very small. They are situated high and steep, making them difficult to work in, and they are hard to reach via narrow mountain roads. Additionally, the climate is very unpredictable—quite cold in winter but with a lot of rain in summer—resulting in all kinds of risks in the vineyard. These Atlantic wines, nowadays also called "cool climate wines," are truly the future of winegrowing in Spain. The soil is fantastic, the grapes are special and local, and the weather here is, as the name suggests, 'cool,' yet with sufficient hours of sunshine. The precise location of the plots is therefore very important in this region, as is extensive knowledge of the grapes and the area. Fortunately, over all these years, they have certainly mastered that.