Casar de Burbia is a winery located in the historical region with Designation of Origin "Bierzo". The Bierzo wine region is situated in the northwest of Spain. A mountainous landscape crossed by the pilgrimage road of "Santiago de Compostela" that pilgrims called "the Spanish Switzerland".

The extreme mountain setting with its climate and soil makes this area one of the most splendid regions in the world for wine making. The viticulture of the winery is their first priority. Centuries old vines on the hillsides of the mountain Valtuille de Arriba with a South orientation, allow the vines to mature earlier.

At an altitude higher than 700 hundred meters it allows for a wider temperature variation between night and day, causing focused tannic concentrations. The altitude provides good wind flows that dry any remnants of water in the grape clusters after a rain, thereby improving the growing conditions. The predominant grape variety is Mencia, but there are also new varieties that include small percentages such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Tempranillo and Petit Verdot.

After veraison, they leave a maximum of one bunch per vine shoot. In "Casar de Burbia" only the point of bunches is cut leaving the shoulders. This is a very laborious cultural technique used only for this wine. The vines are pruned again one week before the vintage, in order to leave the bunches exposed to the sun and devoid of leaves.

An over mature vintage allows a softening of the grape that contributes to the tannic extraction. At the same time, the grape clusters get crushed if they are loaded to excess. The solution they have developed is to harvest in boxes of 8 kg. in order to avoid crushing the fruit on the way to the winery.

The harvesting process is done by hand; including the leaf thinning, the pruning of green shoots and the cleaning of the individual bunches that is done by hand with small scissors.

The fermentation is done in small tanks of 5000 litres to 10000 litres, which allows a perfect blending and avoids dramatic temperature differences between high and low areas. This would be impossible in the case of big tanks (100.000 or 1.000.000 litres). A relationship of 1/1 between the tank diameter and the tank height exists. This characteristic makes possible the maximum maceration in a determinate tank volume. The controlled microoxigenation system, from the beginning to the end of fermentation, allows the wine to develop complexity and varying degrees of flavourful characteristics. The wine is released from a tank through a tap that gets ventilated when it laps against an open tank. The wine is extracted from the lower side to a third tank, where the wine stays for 2 hours before being put back into the original tank with its solid maceration. The respect they have for the nature of their wines, will not allow them to have their wines pass through any pumping turbine. New barrels of different types of wood and manufacture provide a characteristic bouquet. Allier, Hungarian and American oak are used.