Antonio Díez Martín
Spain
Antonio and his family will rise from the ashes with your support... to produce even more delicious wines from Ribera del Duero
- Meet Antonio Díez Martín... a passionate artisan winemaker from Ribera del Duero, Spain. His century-old family vineyards produce outstanding wines that have attracted scores of accolades and awards over the years.
- In 2013, lightning struck Antonio's winery and burned it to the ground. Buildings, equipment and 55,000 gallons of irreplaceable wine – all lost. His whole livelihood went up in smoke.
- With Angel support, we can help this ridiculously talented winemaker get back on his feet to start making exclusive new vintages just for you.
Vineyard Location
Antonio Díez Martín's Story
"I studied Agricultural Engineering in Palencia, and then did a Master's degree in Viticulture and Oenology. My mother inherited the family home and land in Aranda de Duero, and we wanted the land to be used as it had been used for generations. Over the centuries it was planted as a vineyard, but after the war all the vines were pulled up to plant sugar beet. As a family we decided to open a winery, and I trained to be able to run and manage the vineyard, oenology was the next logical step.
I love wine, I love the vineyard and I love the bodega. What I enjoy most about my job is seeing the same love and passion in other people when they taste our wines. It is a pleasure to see how any event can become a party, how the atmosphere changes and how we can participate in some way in the important moments in the lives of the people who buy our wines.
The vineyard is an 87 hectare plot around the winery. We don't buy wine or grapes from any other growers so we can control the quality of the wine 100%.This ensures that the wine is always consistent and of good quality. Within 20 minutes of picking, the grapes are selected and unloaded into the vats in the winery.
Each product line is made from grapes from specific rows and areas of the vineyard, and when you take a sip of wine you get the same taste and feeling as you would if you were strolling through the vines eating the grapes.
We work very hard to ensure that you can taste the fruit, the soil… And the love we put into the wines. We believe that our wines are great value for money given the quality we produce. They transport you to the Ribera del Duero where you can feel the altitude, the summer on the Spanish plains with hot days and cool nights. You can feel how the vines and men have evolved together in deepest Spain.
This job brings plenty of joy, mostly from hearing that our customers love the wine. Also, many prizes in international competitions and people visiting us. Seeing our dreams come true, enjoying what we do and fighting for what we believe in, for our values, and transmit all of this to those that come after us.
Unfortunately, there is always something that goes wrong and we had a bad blow in 2013 when the production building was hit by lightning and burnt down! I think that those were the worst moments of my life…standing watching 23 years of dreams, investment and passion burn to the ground – while the firemen rushed off to get more water!
However this led to what I believe to be one of our greatest achievements – getting a new building functioning for the next harvest in 2014. It was a chaotic, stressful and very emotional year, but we did it. One year and one month after the fire, the first grapes entered our new building.
When we planted the first vines, and the first harvest which was a mere 7000 kilos. Opening the bodega in our own name in 2000, it was such a proud moment to honour generations of the family. Our tenth birthday celebration, when we had a big party and celebrated with grandparents, parents, children and friends. After the fire there were many bad moments, but some of the most memorable were support, friendship and help we received from so many different bodegas and people in the area!
The inauguration of the bodega in 2014 was like being reborn.
My dream future is that we sell all of the wine to people who appreciate it. We create a "circle of friends" who are waiting every year for the new vintages and who know that they are always welcome to visit us and the vineyard! We would like them to know our culture, and one of the least known areas of Spain, the Ribera del Duero.
We've been very grateful for many awards and high point scoring in the Wine Enthusiast over the years for the full range. But for us the best "awards" are more simple and more important – seeing empty bottles on the table, how an ordinary meeting becomes a celebration around a bottle of Martin Berdugo which inspires us all to create a better world."
