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Josรฉ Manuel Pรฉrez Ovejas, the winemaker revolutionizing Ribera del Duero and triumphing in the wine guides
Josรฉ Manuel Pรฉrez Ovejas is at the helm of the winery Dominio de Calogรญa, in addition to serving as technical director of Juvรฉ y Campsโ winery in Ribera del Duero.
Josรฉ Manuel Pรฉrez Ovejas is one of those winemakers who masters his craft like a magician. The wines that come from his hands are not only consistently among the finest produced in Spain, but they also anticipate future trends and open new paths.
Letโs start at the beginning. Pรฉrez Ovejas is a Ribera del Duero specialist, and it runs in his blood. He was born in Pedrosa de Duero, a small village surrounded by vineyards in the Burgos area of Ribera del Duero, near Roa de Duero.
His grandfather, Mauro Pรฉrez, owned one of the largest vineyard holdings in the village. It was the 1970s, and grape and wine prices were at rock bottom. The wine was sold to the cooperative and barely made ends meet.
Don Mauro had three sons who followed him into agriculture, starting with the eldest, Benjamรญn, who already hadโand still hasโa reputation as one of the best viticulturists in the entire region.
When the 1980s began, the outlook started to change. Interest in wine grew and prices improved. In 1980, Mauro and his sons decided to leave the cooperative and found their own winery, which they called Hermanos Pรฉrez Pascuas.
With the help of an external consultant, they released a wine called Viรฑa Pedrosa. Two years later, in 1982, the Ribera del Duero Denomination of Origin was officially established, with this winery as one of its founding members.
Torremilanos in Aranda, Balbรกs in La Horra, Ismael Arroyo in Sotillo, and several cooperatives from the Burgos areaโwhere most of the vineyards are locatedโformed the founding group. They were joined by two wineries from Valladolid: Protos and Vega Sicilia.
Josรฉ Manuel Pรฉrez Ovejas is the third son of Benjamรญn and the only one who showed an interest in wine. Coming from a humble family, he studied at the village school and later obtained a scholarship to complete his secondary education at the Universidad Laboral de Huesca.
From Huesca he moved to Seville, where he qualified as a technical agricultural engineer; then to Madrid, to the School of Agronomy, where he specialized in viticulture and oenology; and finally he completed his oenology degree in Valladolid.
In early 1989, he returned home with his impressive qualifications. He was 24 years old and had never truly been disconnected from the family business, having taken part in harvests and all kinds of agricultural work throughout his life.
His familyโhis father and his two unclesโtrusted him despite his youth, and he took charge of the 1989 harvest, admittedly very nervous, as he later confessed. It turned out perfectly. From that moment until 2018, he completed 29 more harvests, directing both winemaking and management.
The Pรฉrez Pascuas winery became one of the most prestigious in Spain, and the Viรฑa Pedrosa range turned into true icons of great Spanish wines, also achieving significant international recognition.
On March 13, 2019, news broke that shook the entire wine world, especially Ribera del Duero: Josรฉ Manuel Pรฉrez Ovejas was forced to leave the company he had led and elevated for 30 years.
Offers poured in from everywhere, but he chose to remain calm and focus on his personal project, Dominio de Calogรญa, which began that very same year, 2019. The project is based on 22 hectares of his own vineyards on an estate called Calogรญa, where he built a modern, design-driven winery. It is located on the road between Roa de Duero and Pedrosa, land and vineyards he knows intimately.
He began producing a wine called Dominio de Calogรญa by Josรฉ Manuel Pรฉrez Ovejas, and praise quickly followed, with success across all major wine guides. The wine, which is not inexpensive, sold out almost immediately.
In the meantime, Joan Juvรฉ and his daughter Meritxell, who lead the powerful Catalan firm Juvรฉ y Camps, managed to convince him to take on the technical directionโthat is, the winemakingโof their new Ribera del Duero winery: Pagos de Anguix, where he is doing truly outstanding work.
In his personal project, Dominio de Calogรญa, he has embraced new trends that, while preserving the character and identity of Ribera del Duero that he helped define from the very beginning, move toward a lighter, more elegant styleโpowerful on the palate, yet velvety, with an overall sensation of freshness.
He produces three wines, all made from Tempranillo grown in Ribera del Duero:
- Dominio de Calogรญa Cuvรฉe 2022, a small-production wine
- Dominio de Calogรญa by Josรฉ Manuel Pรฉrez Ovejas 2023
- Dominio de Calogรญa Doble M 2021
We tasted the latter two, and they are spectacular.
Doble M 2021, aged 15 months in oak barrels, conveys expressiveness and intensity, with a nose full of fresh fruit, floral notes, rockrose, and licorice; on the palate it is saline, with balanced, fresh acidity and a velvety texture. Retail price: โฌ41.
Dominio de Calogรญa by Josรฉ Manuel Pรฉrez Ovejas 2023, aged 13 months, echoes the same freshness. It is loaded with elegance and complexity. The nose shows notes of black plums, blackberries, scrubland, and a wide range of aromas; the palate is very flavorful, long, smooth, and silky. Retail price: โฌ80.
They say that those who know, know. This man, in 1989, together with other pioneers, helped lift the newly created Ribera del Duero Denomination of Origin to the heights. Now, 35 years later, he is leading the modern vision of this new Ribera, which continues to evolve for the better.