Interpretación: The new project from Vega Sicilia’s former technical director

‘This wine is my Lionel Messi,’ says Xavier Ausàs proudly. ‘It’s young with plenty of potential.’ He’s talking about only the fourth vintage of his Interpretación, a brand that was launched in the UK on 28 February 2020. The tasting was held at Fortnum & Mason, exclusive stockists of the brand.

As Ausàs himself recognises, the reason that the world is interested in his new wine is because he worked at Vega Sicilia in Ribera del Duero for 25 years, spending 17 of them as technical director.

‘When I started we were making 200,000 bottles of wine. By the time I left, ready for a new challenge, we were making more than 1.5 million a year,’ he says. ‘And we had gone from one winery to five: Vega, plus Alión [1991], Oremus in Tokaji [1993], Pintia in Toro [2001], and the joint venture with Benjamin de Rothschild in Rioja, Macán [2009].’

For his first seven years at Vega Sicilia, Ausàs worked for Mariano García. ‘I came with new ideas, with a technical training. Mariano taught me to be patient, and instinctive.’ Working with García, he also got to know and understand the diversity of Ribera del Duero. This has stood him in good stead for the creation of Ausàs Bodegas y Viñedos, and its first release of 2016.

‘I know all the growers – I’ve been buying grapes from them for Alión for a number of years,’ explains Ausàs. These relationships are reflected in his label logo, which is a pair of cupped hands. ‘It’s a symbol of friendship. It also represents transparency and honesty.’

The building blocks

Interpretación is a blend of parcels in Ribera del Duero, his interpretation of the region. Ausàs varies his purchases depending on the character of the vintage. Nava de Roa, with its sandy soils, ‘brings blue flowers’ and elegance. ‘It’s delicate and I don’t give it new oak,’ he says.

Gumiel del Mercado, with clay soils, ‘delivers blue fruits in a generous year, and red fruits in a cool one, as well as acidity’. Roa de Duero and Pesquera bring elegance, while Moradillo de Roa at 950m brings freshness. The Moradillo fruit provides ‘the pillars’, the structure, for the wines, and has new oak treatment.

The wines are notable for their refined oak usage. They are fermented in stainless steel and concrete, and aged in French oak, 30% new, in two sizes: half in 225-litre casks and half in 500-litre casks.

Winemaking philosophy

‘Ribera del Duero can be strong and elegant. I don’t understand why it always has to be massive,’ says Ausàs. ‘My aim is to express the wine, not the wood,’ he adds.

The Ausàs philosophy is based on three principles: pure aromas, freshness and good tannin structure. The first four vintages of the project express these principles clearly – despite the different character of the vintages.

Interpretación 2016 reflects the most ‘Atlantic’ year of the four. It has already sold out in Spain, but is just starting to attract consumers in the UK, a buying market that prefers wine with greater maturity. Stylistically it reveals the transformation of the wine with bottle age.

2017 was the year of the great frost in Europe, with subsequent drought in Ribera del Duero. As a result production was greatly reduced, except in areas such as Moradillo, which escaped because of its altitude. The benefit of this is a more concentrated character.

The Interpretación 2018 barrel sample, which will be bottled in June 2020, is currently expressive, fresh and floral. The 2019 barrel sample – the ‘Lionel Messi’ of the line-up – is from what promises to be a very good vintage, even at this early stage.

When Ausàs is not in his own winery at Quintanilla de Onésimo, you will find him on the road. His consulting business takes in a number of famous names including: Fournier (acquired by Gonzàlez Byass in 2019) and Pago de Carraovejas in Ribera del Duero; Ossian and Prieto Pariente in Rueda; Anima Negra in Mallorca; Marqués de Vargas in Rioja; Prieto Pariente in Castilla y León; and Domaine les Grands Bois in Provence.

Sarah Jane Evans MW’s ratings and tasting notes: