The Barrel-Maker's Dream, the Grandson's Return & the Soul in the Bottle
A grandfather who emigrated to Bordeaux, spent forty years making barrels and learning wine, then returned to plant vines in his native village of Coruña del Conde. In 2012 he died, and his grandson Julien left everything behind to reclaim the estate — alongside his wife Angélica and his cousin Luis. Today, Bodegas Coruña del Conde is a zero-sulphur, biodiversity-rich haven where 29 plots across 8 hectares produce natural wines that carry nothing but grapes, terroir, and a piece of their souls.
Origin — The Barrel-Maker, the Return & the Soul in the Bottle
Alberto López Calvo was a man of two landscapes. Born in the village of Coruña del Conde in the province of Burgos, he emigrated to the Bordeaux region of France as a young man and spent nearly forty years working in wine and barrel-making. He learned the craft of oak, the patience of ageing, and the alchemy of fermentation in the most famous wine region on earth. But he never forgot the high plateau of Castilla y León. In 1970, he began planting vines on his native soil. In 1990, he built the winery and released his first wine under his own name — a project of pure sentimental gravity.
Alberto was passionate about wine, but even more passionate about the land itself. He worked his vineyards and their surroundings with great love, favouring biodiversity and life above all else. He planted trees between and around the plots to stimulate a healthy balance, and he made wine with a single rule: only living wines made from grapes and nothing else. No additives. No shortcuts. When he died in December 2012 at the age of 84, he left behind eight hectares, twenty-nine plots, and a philosophy that his family could not let die.
His grandson, Julien Ben Hamou López, chose a radical life change. In March 2013, he decided to return to the village. He arrived in October 2013, bought the property from his family, and in January 2014 began working in the vineyard and renovating the cellar with the help of his wife, Angélica Amo López — also from Coruña del Conde — and his cousin Luis López Marina, who officially joined the estate in 2019. Other family members helped whenever they could. It was a restoration in the truest sense: of a cellar, of vines, and of a dream.
Since that first vintage in 2014, Julien and Angélica have applied the same philosophy as Alberto: working naturally from the vineyard to the bottle, accompanying the grape's natural process, allowing the terroir to express itself fully. But they have also brought their own voice — a playful, rebellious streak that manifests in wines named BC/DC and I'm Natural Don't Panic, and in a refusal to add even a single milligram of sulphur. The result is a project that honours its grandfather's rigour while refusing to take itself too seriously. "Each bottle contains a small part of our souls and hearts, the beauty of the places around us and the history of our families."
The Place — The Altitude, the Limestone Clay & the Thousand-Year-Old Oaks
Coruña del Conde sits in the province of Burgos, in the heart of the Ribera del Duero wine region, roughly 30 kilometres from Aranda de Duero. The estate comprises 8 hectares across 29 separate plots — a patchwork of small vineyards that reflects the traditional landholding patterns of rural Castilla. The altitude is significant: the village sits at roughly 1,000 metres above sea level, and the thermal amplitude is dramatic, especially in summer, when scorching days collapse into cool nights. This slows ripening, preserves acidity, and pushes harvest into mid-October — late for a region known for early picking.
Limestone Clay & Sandy Soils
The soils are predominantly limestone clay, with some sandier plots, and each of the 29 parcels has its own particularity. This patchwork enables Julien and Angélica to make unique wines with strong characters and personalities, all marked by the freshness that comes from their high-altitude terroir. The limestone provides structure and minerality; the clay retains water in a dry climate; the sand gives lift and aromatic precision. It is not a single vineyard. It is a mosaic.
110-Year-Old Vines & Centenarian Parcels
The inheritance is a gift: the oldest vines are over 110 years old, and the youngest are 23. According to family lore, 80% of the vineyards are centenarian — planted in an era when farmers did not think in single varieties but in survival and adaptation. Julien prunes plot by plot, using goblet, simple Guyot, or cordon as most appropriate for each vine's age and shape. These are not vines that can be mechanised. They demand hands, eyes, and patience.
Sustainable Since the Beginning
The land has never been treated with chemicals, pesticides, or herbicides — not since Alberto first planted, and not now. Julien and Angélica cultivate with what they call "great tenderness": consistent, alternate ploughing to maintain subsoil life; liquid manures of nettle, horsetail, and camomile that they produce themselves; and preparations of whey, dandelion, and garlic when necessary. The goal is not organic certification but pure and healthy land — a vineyard that lives in symbiosis with its surroundings.
Biodiversity & the Wild
The village is situated in a rich ecological environment surrounded by wooded areas of holm oaks, thousand-year-old oaks, pines, and poplars, as well as lavender, thyme, camomile, nettle, and juniper. This diversity attracts roe deer, wild boar, hares, partridges, quails, woodcock, and wood pigeons. Alberto planted trees between and around the plots to stimulate this biodiversity, and Julien has maintained that philosophy. The vineyard is not a monoculture. It is a living ecosystem where the vines are simply one voice in a larger chorus.
Winemaking — Accompanying the Grape, Adding Nothing
Bodegas Coruña del Conde's philosophy is disarmingly simple and rigorously applied: "Wine should be made solely from grapes in combination with terroir and nothing else." This is not a marketing slogan. It is a technical and ethical commitment that governs every decision in the cellar. Julien and Angélica work naturally from the vine to the bottle, accompanying the grape's natural process toward its transformation into wine, and refusing any intervention that would mask or distort what the vineyard has given them.
In practice, this means no selected yeasts, no temperature manipulation, no filtration, no clarification, no stabilisation, and no added sulphites. Julien is explicit: "No, I never use sulfites." Total sulphur in the wines is less than 8mg/L — entirely naturally occurring. To achieve this without spoilage, he relies on absolute cleanliness in the cellar, rigorous fruit selection, and a deep understanding of what he calls the three essential things: alcohol, acidity, and tannins. "These are the things you need to understand to make good wine."
The cellar itself was renovated by hand starting in 2014 — a family project of concrete, oak, and stainless steel. Fermentations are spontaneous, carried out by the indigenous yeasts that live on the skins of grapes from a vineyard that has never seen chemicals. The wines are aged in a mix of vessels depending on the cuvée: old French oak barrels (500-litre demi-muids for the BC/DC line), stainless steel tanks, and concrete. Nothing is new or flashy. Everything is chosen to let the vineyard speak.
The range is deliberately split between seriousness and play. The Alberto López Calvo wines are the estate's flagship — structured, age-worthy, and named with filial respect. The BC/DC wines are the rebellious children: short macerations, fresh and juicy, with a wink in their name. And I'm Natural Don't Panic is the experimental edge — an orange wine of skin contact and audacity, sometimes made from their own grapes, sometimes (when frost or hail strikes) from fruit sourced from trusted friends as far away as Alsace. The common thread is zero additives and total honesty.
The Wines — From the Barrel-Maker's Legacy to the Fresh Rebellion
Bodegas Coruña del Conde's range moves between reverence and irreverence — from the solemn, grandfather-named flagship to the cheeky, high-energy BC/DC line. All are made with the same zero-additive discipline, but each expresses a different facet of the estate's 29 plots and multiple varieties. Production is small, family-scale, and highly sought-after by natural wine collectors who understand that Ribera del Duero can be fresh, transparent, and alive.
Alberto López Calvo
The grandfather's wine — Ribera del DueroThe flagship and the namesake — a blend of Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot that honours the man who started it all. This is the wine Alberto first made in 1990, and it remains the most serious expression of the estate. Fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged with minimal intervention, it is structured, age-worthy, and deeply rooted in the limestone clay soils of Coruña del Conde. Dark fruit, graphite, and a savoury, mineral backbone. A wine of filial respect and historical weight. No sulphites added, unfiltered, unfined.
Val de Cid
Two-plot blend — Ribera del DueroA blend of Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot drawn from two specific plots in the Cid Valley. Slightly more accessible than the Alberto López Calvo but no less honest, Val de Cid captures the freshness and thermal amplitude of the high-altitude terroir. Red and black fruits, a touch of herbal complexity from the surrounding wild flora, and a long, clean finish. It is the village wine of the estate — the expression of a place rather than a single vine age. Spontaneous fermentation, zero additives.
BC/DC Black
Fresh & rebellious — Ribera del Duero100% Tempranillo — the rebellious child of the range. Short maceration of less than 20 days: 50% destemmed, 50% whole cluster, fermented in stainless steel, then aged 5 months in 500-litre old French oak barrels, followed by 6 months in bottle before release. Dense and dark in colour but juicy, peppery, and floral on the palate. Generous dark fruit lifted by bright acidity, with a pleasant harmony between fullness and freshness. 15% alcohol but drinks lighter than the number suggests. Best enjoyed with a slight chill. The name is a wink; the wine is serious fun.
I'm Natural Don't Panic
Orange wine — Castilla y LeónThe experimental edge of the project — an orange wine that changes with the vintage. Typically made from the estate's own white grapes (Albillo Mayor, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chasselas) with extended skin contact. In some years, when frost or hail strikes, Julien sources grapes from trusted friends — famously, a vintage was made from Alsatian fruit (Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Sylvaner, Gewürztraminer) shipped to Castilla. The process: grapes are stomped, given two months of skin contact, then aged one year in stainless steel and one year in bottle before release. Deep orange, luminous, complex. Aromas of cumin, curry leaf, bergamot, and apricot, framed by earthy tannins. A wine that demands attention and rewards curiosity. Total sulphites: less than 8mg/L.
Legacy — The Soul in the Bottle
Bodegas Coruña del Conde matters because it is a family project that spans borders, decades, and generations — a testament to what happens when a barrel-maker returns from Bordeaux to Castilla, plants vines, and instils in his grandson a love of land that transcends fashion or market trends. In a region where the Ribera del Duero DO often demands conformity — specific varieties, specific yields, specific oak regimes — Julien and Angélica have chosen a different path: zero sulphur, zero additives, and a fidelity to 29 small plots that no bureaucratic rulebook could comprehend.
Their legacy is agricultural. By preserving 8 hectares of centenarian vines — 80% of them over 100 years old — they have maintained a living archive of pre-industrial viticulture in the heart of one of Spain's most famous wine regions. These vines were planted before the DO existed, before Tempranillo became a monoculture, before chemicals were considered normal. Their roots descend through metres of limestone clay, tapping water and minerals that young vines cannot reach. When they die, a library of genetic material and terroir expression dies with them. Julien is their guardian.
Their legacy is also methodological. The commitment to zero added sulphur across the entire range is not a gimmick but a statement of absolute faith in the vineyard. It forces them to be fanatical about fruit health, cellar hygiene, and gentle handling. It produces wines that evolve in the bottle — wines that are not stabilised into stasis but allowed to continue their conversation with the world. Some drinkers find this challenging. Others find it thrilling. Both reactions are valid, because the wine is alive.
And their legacy is emotional. No other winery in the Ribera del Duero speaks with the intimacy that Coruña del Conde does. The wines are named after a grandfather, after rock bands, after a state of mind. The back labels carry the weight of family history. The website reads like a love letter to a village. "Each bottle contains a small part of our souls and hearts, the beauty of the places around us and the history of our families." This is not marketing. It is the truth — and in an industry of brands and consultants, truth is rare.
From the Bordeaux barrel-halls to the limestone clay of Burgos, from Alberto's first plantings in 1970 to Julien's zero-sulphur cellar in 2024, Bodegas Coruña del Conde is a testament to what happens when a family refuses to let the land forget. "We naturally work from the vine to the bottle, accompanying the grape's natural process towards its transformation into wine, thus allowing our terroir to express itself fully." The terroir speaks. The family listens. And the drinker is lucky enough to taste the conversation.