WINES
MARIANO GARCÍA
make his family’s wines better in the future.
Early years at Vega Sicilia Mariano began working at Vega Sicilia in 1968 as head winemaker. A graduate of the School of Winemaking and Viticulture in Madrid, Mariano was Vega Sicilia’s first trained oenologist and he soon became Technical Director, a position he held until he left in 1998. Important mentors to Mariano during his days as a young winemaker at Vega Sicilia were the bodega’s General Director, Jesús Anadón, Prof. Andrés Mareca at the Madrid School of Winemaking, and Jesús Marrodán, a renowned consulting oenologist who worked for many bodegas in the 1960s, most notably Marqués de Murrieta in Rioja. Mr. Marrodán taught Mariano an important winemaking concept that he remembers to this day: “Big problems come from small details.” Marrodán
taught Mariano that it’s vital to be clean when racking the wine, and to be fastidious with cellar work. Gradually, the quality and reputation of Vega Sicilia’s wines rose in Spain and abroad. During his time at Vega Sicilia, Mariano utilized very traditional winemaking methods brought from La Rioja that had changed little in decades, and he progressively introduced some modern methods, like reducing barrel aging periods. In the mid-1980s, Bodegas Alión was Mariano’s concept for Vega Sicilia to produce a more contemporary wine from DO Ribera del Duero. Made from younger vines than Único or Valbuena 5°, Alión is a wine to enjoy upon release and it can improve with bottle age, if not the decades intended for Valbuena 5° and Único. Mariano’s years at Vega Sicilia were a formative time. Following his oenological studies, he gained decades of experience working at one of the premier bodegas in Spain, utilizing traditional winemaking methods while
learning about the best terroir and grapes in DO Ribera del Duero.
Mauro: freedom to experiment Mariano believes that leaving Vega Sicilia was “a natural split” that would have happened sooner or later. Though he loved making both Vega Sicilia and Mauro wines, Mariano never gave Mauro serious thought for the future, and his bodega’s success in the 1990s came as a surprise. To begin his project, he bought prime vineyard parcels in Tudela. He wanted the freedom to experiment while making a personal wine that would remain true to Tinto Fino (the local name for Tempranillo) and its terroir. Mariano is Technical Director while Eduardo is Head Winemaker for Mauro. In recent years, Eduardo has taken a larger role in day-to-day winemaking operations, while Mariano is more of a senior consultant who advises at a strategic level. Alberto is
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