From the atlas
Bodegas Hnos. Perez Pascuas S.L.
At A Glance
Appellation: Ribera del Duero DO Village: Pedrosa de Duero, Burgos Primary grape: Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) Range: Cepa Gavilán Crianza through Pérez Pascuas Gran Reserva Gran Selección First bottle: Viña Pedrosa Reserva
The Producer
Bodegas Hnos. Pérez Pascuas sits in Pedrosa de Duero, a village in Burgos, on land that Mauro Pérez had farmed before his sons ever made wine. In 1980, brothers Benjamín and Adolfo Pérez Pascuas brought in their first harvest from those family vineyards. Two years later, they joined the handful of producers who formally applied to create the Ribera del Duero DO, an appellation that did not yet exist and whose commercial future nobody could confirm. The designation was granted in 1982. The bodega was present at both moments: the first bottle and the legal founding of the appellation.
The estate grows Tinto Fino across vineyards where a high proportion of vines are around 30 years old, plus the Pago Valtarreña parcel, where 70-year-old vines planted by Mauro Pérez produce the flagship Gran Selección. All wines are estate-grown and sold in more than 35 countries.
Place
Ribera del Duero runs east to west through the high Castilian plateau, following the course of the Duero river through Burgos and Valladolid. The vineyards sit at elevation, with wide swings between summer heat and cold nights, and winters sharp enough to shut the vines down completely. That continental climate is what gives Tinto Fino here its particular character: dark fruit from the summer warmth, firm acidity from the cold nights, and tannins that can carry a wine through extended ageing without losing shape.
Pedrosa de Duero lies toward the Burgos end of the appellation. The altitude moderates ripeness, which is why the wines at this address tend toward weight rather than sweetness, with enough acidity to keep the fruit moving on the palate over years in bottle.
Soil And Site
The vineyards around Pedrosa de Duero sit on limestone-clay soils typical of the Ribera plateau, with alluvial deposits closer to the river. These soils drain well and limit vine vigour, pushing roots down and concentrating what comes out. Pago Valtarreña, the single parcel at the top of the range, carries 70-year-old vines with deep root systems that draw from further down in the subsoil. Old vines on calcareous clay give lower yields and more concentrated flavour in each berry, which is part of why the Gran Selección is produced only when the vintage justifies it.
Story
The story begins one generation before the bodega. Mauro Pérez farmed vineyard land in Pedrosa de Duero before his sons were winemakers. He planted what would become Pago Valtarreña in the 1950s. When Benjamín and Adolfo built the bodega in 1980, they built it around land that already had history.
The 1982 DO application was not a formality. Ribera del Duero was not an established name. The brothers and a small group of neighbouring producers chose to codify the appellation before the market had given them much reason to. That decision placed the estate among the wineries that founded the Ribera del Duero DO in 1982.
The current generation continues to manage the range and the Pago Valtarreña parcel. The oldest rows in that parcel date from Mauro's plantings. The Gran Selección is the direct link between what Mauro put in the ground and what the estate produces today, released only in the vintages when the parcel earns it.
Vineyards And Cellar
The estate's vine base is largely around 30 years old, which at Ribera elevations and on limestone-clay soils means moderate yields and concentrated dark fruit. Pago Valtarreña's 70-year-old vines produce even lower yields, with greater berry concentration and deeper colour.
The Viña Pedrosa Reserva spends 24 months in a mix of American and French oak barrels, then a minimum of 20 months in bottle before release. American oak brings vanilla and toasted coconut character; French oak adds dried spice and tighter grain. The combined ageing integrates tannin and builds the kind of body that needs time but rewards it. The Gran Selección and Gran Reserva follow similarly extended programmes, though specific durations are set by vintage.
The El Otero is produced as a certified organic wine and aged in oak before release. Its blend is 94% Tinta del País alongside 3% Albillo and 3% Garnacha. Albillo is a white grape variety; its inclusion softens tannin slightly and adds aromatic freshness.
Wines
The range runs seven bottles from the Cepa Gavilán Crianza at the base to the Gran Selección at the top. The Crianza is the accessible entry point: Tinto Fino with short barrel time, drinking well within a few years of release. The El Otero is the organic anomaly, carrying a small percentage of white Albillo and red Garnacha alongside the Tinta del País, giving it silky tannins and a lively balance between fruit freshness and toasted oak.
The Finca La Navilla Reserva and Viña Pedrosa Reserva both sit at the reserva tier, with the Viña Pedrosa the more documented of the two: 100% Tinto Fino, 24 months in barrel, 20 months in bottle, firm tannin, dark cherry, structured body. The Viña Pedrosa Gran Reserva extends the ageing from the same estate Tinto Fino base, adding tobacco, dried fruit, and leather to the oak and dark cherry profile as time in bottle does its work.
At the top, the Pérez Pascuas Gran Reserva Gran Selección comes only from Pago Valtarreña and only in years the parcel justifies a separate vinification. Concentrated, dense, and built for long ageing, it is the bottle that shows what 70-year-old vines on the Burgos plateau can produce.
In The Glass
Across the range, Tinto Fino at this address opens with dark cherry and blackberry, backed by warm spice and the toasted character that American oak brings. The acidity runs firm rather than bright, the kind that keeps the fruit from feeling heavy and keeps the wine moving through a long finish. Tannins are enveloping at the Reserva tier, where the extended barrel and bottle ageing has had time to integrate them, and firmer at the entry Crianza level, where they need food or a few more years.
The El Otero shows the range most clearly at the lighter end: cherry red colour with violet at the rim, coffee and cacao on the nose alongside black and red fruit, silky tannins that make it the most immediately approachable bottle in the lineup. The Gran Reserva and Gran Selección shift toward dried fruit, tobacco, leather and dark spice, with the fresh cherry receding behind a more complex, evolved profile. Finish on both aged bottles is long and dry, with firm acid holding everything in place.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with the Viña Pedrosa Reserva. It is 100% Tinto Fino from estate vineyards, aged 24 months in American and French oak and then held a minimum of 20 months in bottle before release. That ageing programme is long enough to integrate the tannins fully while keeping the dark cherry and plum fruit clear on the nose. In the mouth, the tannins are enveloping rather than grippy, the body is full but not heavy, and the finish carries toasted oak, dried spice, and enough acidity to keep the whole thing moving. It is a Ribera del Duero Reserva in the classic mould: built to age but ready to drink on release, with everything in the range architecture pointing either up toward the Gran Selección or down toward the Crianza.
Anecdote
Benjamín and Adolfo Pérez Pascuas brought in their first harvest in 1980 from the vineyard their father Mauro had farmed in Pedrosa de Duero. The bodega was new, the name was unknown, and Ribera del Duero was not a category that wine buyers in Spain or elsewhere had any reason to look for. Two years later, the brothers joined a small group of producers and put their names to the application that would formally establish the Ribera del Duero DO. The designation was granted in 1982. The estate that had begun with a single family harvest was now part of the legal foundation of one of Spain's most argued-over red wine appellations, and the vines Mauro Pérez had put in the ground before either son was making wine were already counted among what the new appellation would be built around.
Final Word
Pérez Pascuas is a founding house in every literal sense: founded on family land, and a co-founder of the appellation that gave that land its legal name. The range from Crianza to Gran Selección maps the Ribera del Duero hierarchy faithfully, with the Viña Pedrosa Reserva as the clearest statement of the house style and the single-parcel Gran Selección from 70-year-old vines in Pago Valtarreña.
Sources
- https://perezpascuas.com/en/
- https://spanishwinelover.com/winerie/hnos-perez-pascuas
- https://perezpascuas.com/en/vina-pedrosa-el-otero
- https://perezpascuas.com/en/vina-pedrosa-reserva-data-sheet/
- https://perezpascuas.com/en/perez-pascuas-gran-seleccion-data-sheet/
- https://perezpascuas.com/en/vina-pedrosa-gran-reserva-en/