From the atlas
Bodegas Finca La Capilla
At A Glance
Location: Roa de Duero, Ribera del Duero DO, Castilla y León, Spain Grape: Tinta del País (Tempranillo), Sauvignon Blanc, Verdejo Range: Crianza, Reserva, Gran Reserva, Vendimia Seleccionada, Blanco Estate: 50 hectares of vineyard within a 65-hectare property Founded: 1998
The Producer
Finca La Capilla sits in Roa de Duero, the market town at the geographic centre of the Ribera del Duero appellation in Castilla y León. The estate was founded in 1998 by the Forner family, which had already built wine businesses in Bordeaux, Rioja, and Rueda before a single vine was planted here.
The Forner connection to Bordeaux is not decorative. The family patriarch, Enrique Forner, purchased two classified Haut-Médoc châteaux in 1963 and worked within the French system for years before returning to Spain. That experience shaped how Finca La Capilla was built: a single block of 50 hectares farmed as one, a barrel cellar scaled to 2,000 casks, and a range architecture that treats the Crianza as a starting point rather than a volume wine.
The house direction has moved toward balance and freshness. The Crianza was recently relabelled with an explicit statement about balance over extraction, a deliberate departure from the appellation's historically denser house style. The Vendimia Seleccionada, the estate's most demanding bottling, carries 16 months in new Bordeaux barrels and is released only after a further year in bottle.
Place
Ribera del Duero is a Denominación de Origen in the high interior of Castilla y León, where the Duero river cuts through a plateau sitting above 700 metres. The elevation keeps nights cool, protecting acidity through long, warm ripening seasons. Roa de Duero sits near the western boundary of the appellation, close to its administrative heart, and has been treated as the DO's central reference point since the appellation was established in 1982.
The local name for Tempranillo is Tinta del País, and the DO requires it to be the dominant grape in all red wines. That naming convention matters on a label: a Ribera del Duero red carries a different regional character from a Rioja Tempranillo even when the grape is the same variety, because the appellation implies the plateau climate, the altitude, and the characteristic combination of dark fruit and firm tannin that the Duero valley produces.
Crianza, Reserva, and Gran Reserva are legal categories within the DO, not just marketing tiers. Each requires minimum aging periods in oak and bottle before release, so the label category tells a buyer something real about how long the wine has been kept and how much wood contact it has had.
Soil And Site
The estate covers 65 hectares, with approximately 50 under vine, planted as a single continuous block rather than scattered parcels. The estate is planted as a single continuous block.
The Ribera del Duero plateau combines alluvial soils with clay and limestone subsoil across much of the DO. Specific soil composition for the Finca La Capilla parcels is not independently confirmed in available sources, and the estate material does not detail it.
Story
Enrique Forner was exiled from Spain during the Civil War. He rebuilt a life in France, and by 1952 had founded a wine business working the Rhône and Loire Valleys. By 1963 he had bought two classified châteaux in the Haut-Médoc: Château Camensac, a Fifth Growth, and Château Larose Trintaudon. He returned to Spain in 1968 and settled first in Rioja, a move that followed a well-worn path: nineteenth-century Bordeaux wine families had made the same crossing when phylloxera destroyed their vineyards and they needed new ground.
The Ribera del Duero chapter came later. Finca La Capilla was founded in 1998, when the family planted the estate at Roa de Duero. The timing placed them inside an appellation that was already being taken internationally, with producers like Vega Sicilia and Pesquera having established the plateau as capable of wines with long aging potential.
The Forner family draws on experience in Bordeaux Grand Cru, Rioja, and Rueda, and that cross-regional literacy shows in how Finca La Capilla is set up: the barrel program uses both American and French oak, Bordeaux barrels appear in the premium aging program, and the range architecture mirrors a classified growth model more than it does a traditional Spanish bodega.
Vineyards And Cellar
The 50-hectare vineyard block is farmed as an integrated estate, with the estate explicitly naming vineyard care and grape selection as the foundation of its quality approach. Identifying the best plots within the estate is described as a continuous process, not a fixed classification.
In the cellar, the Crianza spends 15 months in French oak before 16 to 20 months in bottle. French oak at this level gives the wine its toasted, creamy character without the heavier vanilla of American oak. The Vendimia Seleccionada uses new Bordeaux barrels alongside one-year-old French oak for 16 months, a combination that adds more new-wood extraction than the Crianza program and contributes the spice and exotic wood notes on the nose. After barrel aging, it rests in bottle for a minimum of 12 months before release.
The Blanco is vinified across three vessel types simultaneously: new French oak barrels of 225 and 500 litres, concrete egg-shaped vats of 1,700 litres, and small stainless steel tanks. Night harvesting preserves the aromatic compounds in the Sauvignon Blanc and Verdejo. Six months on fine lees in vessel adds texture and breadth to the wine before bottling.
The winery holds 600,000 litres of production capacity alongside the 2,000-barrel aging cellar, a scale that supports the full range from entry Crianza to Gran Reserva.
Wines
La Capilla Crianza is 98% Tinta del País with 2% Merlot. It is deeply coloured, with a glyceric, unctuous texture in the glass and fresh fruit on the nose wrapped in well-integrated oak. The palate is lively, with creamy, toasted notes and complexity. It is not a heavy or extracted wine by Ribera del Duero standards.
Vendimia Seleccionada is 99% Tinta del País with 1% Merlot, drawn from selected parcels across the estate. The nose is complex: black fruits, Chinese ink, liquorice, spice, and exotic wood. The palate is fruit-forward with complementary rather than dominant oak, and the finish is very long. The estate declares it suited for at least 10 more years of aging from release. The 16-month new Bordeaux barrel program and the extended bottle rest before release separate it clearly from the Crianza.
La Capilla Blanco is 54% Sauvignon Blanc, 42% Verdejo, and 4% other varieties. It carries roasted coffee and aniseed depth alongside ripe fruit, with bright acidity and a firm finish. The three-vessel vinification produces a more textured result than a purely stainless-steel approach would deliver, while the night harvesting keeps the aromatic freshness the Sauvignon Blanc contributes.
Reserva and Gran Reserva bottlings complete the range above the Crianza. Tasting specifics for those wines are not documented in available sources.
In The Glass
The Crianza opens with fresh dark fruit and light toast, the French oak integrated rather than dominant. In the mouth it is ample and glyceric, with acidity that keeps the wine lively through the mid-palate and a finish that carries creamy oak alongside the fruit. It is not a brooding or tannic wine.
The Vendimia Seleccionada is denser from the first smell: black cherry and plum alongside more mineral notes, the ink and liquorice register, and the spice that comes from 16 months in new Bordeaux barrels. On the palate the fruit sits in front of the oak rather than behind it, with a very long finish. That balance between new wood and primary fruit is what the declared 10-year aging window is built on; the tannins are firm but not rough.
The Blanco occupies a different register from the reds entirely. It opens with a roasted, slightly oxidative complexity from the oak and lees work, with the aniseed note adding depth to the ripe Sauvignon Blanc fruit. The concrete egg vats contribute body without the oak influence, and the acidity from the night-harvested grapes gives the wine its length. It is a white built for texture as much as freshness.
A Bottle To Understand It
La Capilla Vendimia Seleccionada is the bottle that shows what this estate is doing at full concentration. It is 99% Tinta del País from selected parcels, aged 16 months in new Bordeaux barrels and one-year-old French oak, then held in bottle for over a year before release. On the nose it delivers black fruit, liquorice, Chinese ink, spice, and the exotic wood character that new Bordeaux barrels give. In the mouth the fruit comes first, the oak works underneath it, and the finish is exceptionally long. It is a wine with genuine aging architecture, more than a bigger version of the Crianza. Start here to understand what the estate can do with its best selection and its Bordeaux-trained barrel program.
Anecdote
In 1963, Enrique Forner walked into the Haut-Médoc and bought two classified châteaux. He had left Spain during the Civil War, rebuilt a wine business in the Rhône and Loire Valleys by 1952, and then moved up into Bordeaux. Château Camensac was a Fifth Growth. Château Larose Trintaudon was a larger property. He owned both. Five years later he returned to Spain, settling first in Rioja as Bordeaux families before him had done when phylloxera sent them looking for vine land in the 1870s. The Ribera del Duero estate came in 1998, nearly half a century after the Loire business. The family that planted 50 hectares at Roa de Duero had, by that point, already run classified Médoc châteaux for 35 years.
Final Word
Finca La Capilla is a single-estate producer with a range that includes Crianza, Reserva, Gran Reserva, Vendimia Seleccionada, and Blanco. The Vendimia Seleccionada carries 16 months in new Bordeaux barrels and at least 12 months in bottle before release. The Blanco, fermented across three different vessel types, is the most technically ambitious wine in the range.
Sources
- https://www.fincalacapilla.com/en/
- https://www.fincalacapilla.com/en/origins-2/
- https://www.riberadelduero.es/en/node/486
- https://www.fincalacapilla.com/en/portfolio_page/la-capilla-crianza/
- https://www.fincalacapilla.com/en/portfolio_page/la-capilla-vendimia-seleccionada/
- https://www.fincalacapilla.com/en/portfolio_page/la-capilla-blanco/
- https://www.fincalacapilla.com/en/winery/