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THE FAMILY 1.- History Origins. El Señorío de Valdepusa. In 1292 the King of Castile granted the Field Marshal Payo de Ribera a vast area of land next to the Montes de Toledo, which since the conquest of Toledo had been a hunting ground for bears, deer and boars for their kings, particularly Alfonso XI. In 1250 Peter of the Cruel ratified it via privilege surrounding the property and created the Señorío de Valdepusa. In the 14th Century the lords of Valdepusa acquired the Señorío de Griñón (Griñón Estate), which at the beginning of the 19th century became a marquessate. Earlier, during the mid-16th century, the Ribera family had joined the Fernández de Córdoba dynasty through marriage, founded by the Great Captain, General of the Castilian troops, who conquered the city of Granada in 1292 for the Catholic Monarchs, achieving the unity of Spain for the first time. The House of Mirabel and Grammar of Alonso Nebrija In that same year (1292) an illustrious grammarian, Antonio de Nebrija, published the first Spanish Grammar under the sponsorship of another family ancestor, Juan de Zúñiga (1474-1504), to whom he also dedicated the first dictionary (Spanish-Latin), which gave rise to the Castilian language. The Emperor Carlos V and Monastery of Yuste Two generations later, Luis de Zúñiga, chronicler and friend of Emperor Carlos, received a splendid polychromated marble bust from him. This bust was made by the Milan sculptor Pompeo Leoni, and it can be admired today at the Carlos V reception room of Mirabel Palace (currently belonging to Carlos Falcó and his family). Luis accompanied the Emperor until his death at the nearby Monastery of Yuste1. His son Fadrique de Zúñiga, first Marquis of Mirabel (1540), transformed the medieval fortress (13th Century) he had in Plasencia (Cáceres) into a beautiful Renaissance palace. Today the Marquesa of Mirabel is Alejandra (Xandra) Falcó, Carlos’ eldest daughter and Marketing Director of Pagos de Familia Marqués de Griñón. First edition of Don Quixote In 1605, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra dedicated the first edition of The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha to another Zúñiga, Alonso Diego, VII Duke of Béjar, who thus became the patron of the first novel in the history of literature and the most universal written masterpiece in Spanish. His beautiful young wife, Juana de Mendoza, was immortalised in the extraordinary oil painting of Alonso Sánchez-Coello, chamber painter of Philip II (Marquis de Griñón Collection), recently selected by the Guggenheim Museum in New York for the exhibition From El Greco To Picasso (November 06- March 07). 1 In the 14th century, when ecclesiastical confiscation evicted the monks of Yuste, another Marquis of Mirabel bought it to restore it; Hilda Fernández de Córdoba, mother of Carlos, ceded it to the Spanish State (free of charge in 1950). Today it forms part of the National Heritage, with the palaces of Aranjuez, San Ildefonso de La Granja y Madrid, and it constitutes one of the 4 splendid royal residences of the Spanish Crown. Dominio de Valdepusa The Castle of Malpica –inhabited without interruption (like the Palace of Mirabel) by Carlos Falcó’s family- is testimony to a long agricultural saga, which since the 13th century gave protagonism to the vineyard and even more so to the olive grove on the Señorío de Valdepusa. The family’s innovative vocation is likewise manifest in this beautiful Toledo region: D. Joaquín Fernández de Córdoba, Duke of Arión and grandfather of Carlos, owner of Dominio de Valdepusa since the end of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century, introduced the first tractors. Furthermore, he planted tens of thousands of olive trees, installing the most advanced oil mill of the period, while continuing to manufacture red wine in the old underground pitcher winery located at the time within the Castle of Malpica. Marquis of Griñón. Excellence and innovation applied to wine and olive oil. However, it was his grandson, Carlos, a graduate in agronomy at Leuven University (Belgium) and a holder of a master degree at California University (Davis), who would boost the several hundred years old agrarian tradition in 1974, adding a new commercial dimension to it. Yet again, the key was the same spirit which encouraged his ancestors in the past: preserve everything worth preserving, improving it via initiatives or innovations, providing knew knowledge in each period. Carlos decided to convert the Marqués de Griñón label into a symbol of global excellence for wine and olive oil. In fact, Pagos de Familia Marqués de Griñón has managed to position itself at the very top for both essential elements to the Mediterranean diet and culture: wine and olive oil. 2. Pagos de Familia Marqués de Griñón (PFMG) Philosophy PFMG is a family business whose aim is to achieve excellence and a differentiated personality in the wines or extra virgin olive oils that they produce. To this end, Pagos de Familia Marqués de Griñón, is based on an old European tradition ‘pago’, consisting of growing the grapes or olives on the property of their estates that present unique soil and microclimate characteristics, which give their wines and extra virgin olive oil a differentiated terroir. The ‘pago’ (in French cru or domaine) theory is, in fact, responsible for the vast majority of great wines worldwide. The reasons are relatively straightforward. Production on the estate itself or in its outskirts enables excellent care of the raw material, harvesting at the ideal time and quick transport to winery or oil mill. And last, but by no means least, its transformation into wine and oil is adapted to the characteristics of each grape or olive batch, almost always different. To put it in a nutshell, it is an artisanal agricultural and production and therefore, unaffected by any industrial issues. The most tangible result is the transmission of the ‘pago’ characteristics; i.e. soil, microclimate, varieties and cultivation techniques to the wines and oils finally packaged, thereby ensuring their differentiated personality. As to excellence, the Falcó family simultaneously applies two principles: Preserve all traditions worthy of same. Innovate continually, in both the agricultural and manufacturing phases, incorporating state of the art technology where useful for improving the expression and balance of our wines and oils. CV Carlos Falcó Carlos Falcó was born in Seville (Spain). He graduated as an Agronomist from Leuven University (Belgium) and later graduated from California University (Davis). He is one of the pioneers of modern viticulture and a producer of great quality pago wines in Spain. He was the first to plant Syrah and Petit Verdot in Spain; likewise, the Cabernet Sauvignon and Graciano varieties in Castilla La Mancha. His Dominio de Valdepusa vineyards in Toledo were European pioneers with the introduction of new technologies such as drip irrigation (1974), Smart-Dyson trellising systems (1994), partial root drying (PRD) in 1999, likewise the use of dendrometers to monitor hydric stress and vine growth. In 2003, Dominio de Valdepusa was the first Spanish single estate to be awarded its own Denominación de Origen by the Spanish government and by the European Union. In June 1999 he published his first book Understanding Wine, which is currently in its 10th edition and it has received several awards from national and international critics such as the best gastronomic publication awarded by the Cofradía de la Buena Mesa (Good Table Guild) and the Spanish Gastronomy Academy (Madrid) or the Best Spanish book on wines granted during the 1999 World Cookbook Awards (Versailles, France), becoming a bestseller on the subject. P Carlos Falcó is currently the President of Pagos de Familia Marqués de Griñón, S.A. and owner of the Dominio de Valdepusa Estate and Sociedad del Viñedo del Rincón, S.A.. For years, Carlos Falcó has also dedicated time and resources to obtaining a high quality extra virgin olive oil. Since 2002 they have been producing an estate bottled extra virgin olive oil which is considered by many critics to be amongst Spain’s and the world’s best high quality olive oils. Carlos Falcó is a founding member of the Great Spanish Olive Grove Estates Association which was created to defend the high quality single estate olive oil concept. Successive harvests have obtained an extraordinary reception from the market and specialised critics in and outside Spain, positioning their extra virgin olive oil amongst the world leaders in their field. Furthermore, Carlos Falcó forms part of different associations of prestigious wineries, gastronomy or wine guilds. He is currently Chairman of Grandes Pagos de España (Association of Spanish Grand Crus), Chairman of the Royal Spanish Academy of Gastronomy and Chairman of the Castellano-Manchega Academy of Gastronomy. In addition, he is an honorary member of the Rioja, Penedés, Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne wine guilds. In April 2004 he was named Man of the Year by the Peñín Guide. Verema.com, a leading online wine page, conferred him the identical award, elected by their clients in 2006. CHRONOLOGY OUR SINGLE ESTATE WINES TECHNICAL SHEET NAME OF WINE EL RINCÓN WINERY DOMINIO EL RINCÓN OWNER Carlos Falcó / Xandra Falcó WINEMAKER Julio Mourelle DENOMINATION Vinos de Madrid OF ORIGIN VINTAGE 2007 TYPE OF WINE Red Wine AGING 10 Months in French Allier Oak Barrels VARIETALS 90% Syrah and 10% Red Grenache ALCOHOL 14.5 % Vol. SOILS They are acid soils (pH 5.5) comprised of decomposed granite sand (quartz, feldspar and mica) over a clay subsoil. It is interesting to observe how the terroir of each wine district, the meteorised granite in counter position to the clay‐limestone at Dominio de Valdepusa is reflected in the personality of our wines. The idiosyncrasy of El Rincón’s soil profile lends its wines an unmistakeable characteristic of elegance, giving them a more Atlantic profile.