Wine of the week

Adrian McManus traverses the canyons of the Duero and the crags of Arribes to discover a wine from the Promised Land

Tierra Prometida 2023, Bodega Tierra Prometida

DO Arribes

ABV: 12.5%

Varieties:  Bruñal, Juan García, Garnacha and Syrah

€23.00 from Tierra Prometida

“There’s a dark cloud rising from the desert floor, I packed my bags and I’m heading straight into the storm”, sang a restless Bruce Springsteen in his 1978 epic Promised Land, an allegory about a tempest that would rid the world of the lies that destroy the soul. Powerful stuff.

Jumping to February 2025 and I’m reminded of another Promised Land, one that has blown my (pre)conceptions about wines from this region right out the window. It seems that for too long I’d been under the mistaken impression that Zamora wines were mostly high alcohol, tongue-wrangling sledgehammers.

My road to enlightenment was revealed by Toro-based French winemaker Antony Terryn (Dominio del Bendito), who has joined forces with fellow winemaker José Manuel Beneitez (El Hato y el Garabato), to produce Tierra Prometida, a fantastic field blend of local varieties Bruñal, Juan García and Garnacha and the rather exotic (for the location) inclusion of a ‘pinch’ of Syrah.

Winemakers José Manuel Beneitez and Antony Terryn Photo: Bodega Tierra Prometida

Back in 2012, José Manuel was doing an internship at Dominio del Bendito, working on that year’s harvest, after which he embarked on a trip that would see him work at top wineries in Toro, California, Australia and Portugal. It was only after his return to Arribes, to launch his own project with old vines that belonged to his family, that he and Antony decided to fulfill a long-held desire of producing an Arribes wine together.

The vines are located on high ground in the upper canyon of the Duero river close to Portugal, bringing the advantage of slower and later ripening times. While summer temperatures can be quite high, it’s far from the ‘furnace’ conditions one might find lower down the river gorge. Rains during the growth cycle are more frequent than further east in Toro, and the nights are refreshingly cool. All this plus decomposed granite soils with excellent drainage led Antony and José Manuel to believe they have something of a promised land in viticultural terms.

José Manuel and Antony in the vineyard Photo: Bodega Tierra Prometida

The harvest is manual, in two passes that respond to the earlier and later ripening of the different varieties. After fermentation, the wine is aged for ten months in used French oak barrels of 225 and 500 litres.

First impressions on the nose are a barrage of spicy plum, raspberry and a hint of parma violet. In the mouth its silky tannins confer elegance coupled with a freshness transmitting that lively Arribes character. The finish was longer than a bovine homecoming in the Sayago, the grazing lands west of Zamora, and a real delight for the senses.

All in all, a wine you should really get yourselves acquainted with.