So happy to be back and participating in this GRAND OCCASION celebrating 10 years of BERSERKER BLISS!! ._Congratulations to Todd and all the folks that make our playground FUN!!_.
I am Nola Palomar, my late husband and I started Dominio Buenavista in the late 1980’s by clearing the stones and preparing the land that he had inherited from his father, Miguel.
Our first vineyard was an area that was know as La Balsa. In 1990 we planted the first vineyard with vitus vitus and two years later we traveled to Napa Valley and bought around 14,000 buds of Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Viognier. That February we embarked on an interesting odyssey to bring those buds into Spain. With several large duffel bags we headed to the airport only to be rejected for the amount of luggage we had. We we rerouted from Dayton - Detroit - Copenhagen - Barcelona - Madrid - Almeria. We made it and surprisingly all the buds made it too. Because we actually entered the EU in Copenhagen we did not need to have the Spanish Border Police inspect the bags. The next day we began field grafting the 14,000 buds and ended with about a 95% graft success rate.
During the next couple of years we installed our trellis and drip irrigation system and Juan took classes on wine making through Davis and we took multiple trip around the globe for him to feel competent as the winemaker for his new hobby. In 1996 we had our first little harvest and subsequent vintage of wine. We had help from other local winemakers and learned a lot over the next few years. In 1997 we broke ground for our winery and named the estate Dominio Buenavista. The winery had a underground cellar, tasting room and vinification and bottling room on the second floor. The cellar was connected to that area by a stainless steel piping system. We inaugurated our winery in 1999. Our architect had the wisdom to build the structure in a way to facilitate expansion quite easily. We branded the name Veleta to the wines, named after one of the tallest mountains in the Sierra Nevada, Spain.
Expand we did, we continued to expand the vineyards to encompass a mountain side calle El Cerron and further expansion to Vina de Erilla de la Cura. At the time the vineyards Erilla de la Cura were planted we also excavated and built a 135 million liters water reservoir to handle the drip irrigation to each vine in our 55 acres of vineyards. The water rights to Dominio Buenavista is key to our vineyards vitality because of our unique micro climate.
We are located approximately 18 miles to the Mediterranean Sea, nestled in an area known as the Alpujarra, at the base of the tallest mountains of the Iberian peninsula. We are in a perpetual rain shadow from May to October but also have the influx of gentle sea breezes which cool the vines throughout the growing season. The area is also protected from much of the searing heat of central and southern Spain by the mountains.
As the vineyards matured our wine making followed suit and in 2004 our Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo were both recognized as medal winning wines at a wine contest in Spain, since that time our quality has continued to improve as well as quantity.
In an effort to facilitate the sales of these boutique wines we decided to become importers, thus self importing our wines. We currently produce 12 different wines under the Veleta brand and 1 under the brand Sierra Sol. We also produce a beautiful Extra Virgin Olive Oil from our estate from groves of Lechin de Granada olives. It is said that these olives brought to the area by the Phoenicians hundreds of years ago are the genetic twin to Leccino of Tuscany.
I currently import a number of high end Spanish gourmets such as our Veleta Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Sherry Vinegar, White Tuna, Sardines, Mussels, Ventresca, Caballa (Mackerel), queso Manchego, and Jamon Serrano.
Since my husband’s passing, it has been difficult to pick up all the pieces and to move forward, but I’m doing it. Nothing makes me more proud and honored than to carry on the dream of my husband.
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