Dominio de Anza [Diego Magaña]

Diego Magaña is recognized as one of Spain’s most promising young producers and his Bierzo project, Dominio de Anza, is still a bit of a hidden gem.

He began his winemaking journey at a young age working at Viña Magaña, his father’s international variety winery in Navarra. While Diego is widely known for his terroir-driven, Rioja Alavesa project, Anza, he also works a very small collection of old vines in Bierzo. After years of inspiration from his close friend and Spanish winemaking icon, Raúl Pérez, he bottled his first vintage in 2014 in a corner of Raúls bodega in Valtuille de Abajo where he still crafts his wines to this day. He farms a mere 3-4 hectares of 80-100+ year old vines scattered amongst Valtuille and Otero and bottles, on average, a miniscule 2500 bottles every year. 

While directly inspired by Raúl, Diego’s style is completely his own. Stem inclusion varies depending on the vintage, the wines are always raised in mature barrels of varying sizes and fermented ambiently with a “less is more” approach focusing on transparency and vineyard character. He’s quoted saying “Mi receta es que no hay receta” or “My recipe is there is no recipe”.

In 2023, the perceptive Luis Gutiérrez of The Wine Advocate was moved to offer his kudos on a ‘flat out great’ collection of ‘brilliant reds’ singled out as ‘truly outstanding, among the best produced in the appellation.’