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CAMPO ELÍSEO CONTRACORRIENTE 2024, WITHOUT ARTIFICE
A pure Toro red wine. A vibrant reflection of the nonconformist spirit of Bordeaux winemaker François Lurton. An almost natural red wine, fruity and flavoursome, born of a region as wild and untamed as the Toro itself.
The new 2024 vintage of Campo Elíseo Contracorriente was unveiled at the Sa Vida restaurant by renowned winemaker François Lurton, an undisputed authority in the production of great Spanish wines and a fervent advocate of “free spirits who forge their own destiny”, as he likes to stress on the back label. This philosophy led him, back in 2007, to plant a vineyard in the village of Peleagonzalo, east of the province of Zamora, within the Toro Designation of Origin. The vineyard is planted at a density of 6,000 vines per hectare, on brown sandy-silty soils with good permeability — fully aware that such planting density is not authorised by the appellation, where vineyards traditionally average around 1,000 vines per hectare.
The result is striking: a wine shaped by a particularly hot and humid year, in which balance between ripeness and freshness was essential. “A wine crafted with meticulous care: cold maceration, fermentation in concrete vats and gentle extraction, enhancing its floral aromas and freshness.” A vibrant, rounded and full-bodied red with fine tension, offering aromas of black and red fruit, with notes of black pepper and spice. Fine, elegant tannins. A very different expression of Toro.
Price: €19
A few days later, still in the company of François Lurton, we completed the journey through his ambitious Spanish wine project with a magnificent day at Bodegas Campo Elíseo, in the heart of the Rueda appellation, in La Seca (Valladolid). This superb 17th-century manor house hides a true treasure: an extraordinary network of vaulted underground galleries, ten metres below ground, housing large oak vats, barrels, sandstone tanks and concrete egg-shaped vats, where both fermentation and ageing take place. Constant temperature and humidity throughout the year create ideal conditions for producing great barrel-aged white wines — a Lurton signature since his arrival in Spain over 30 years ago.
Among these are surprising whites such as Cuesta de Oro Amphora Wine 2024, made from Verdejo with a small proportion of Sauvignon Blanc, and aged in ceramic amphorae and barrels. A full-bodied, smooth and complex wine, with a silky texture and fresh elegance — pure delight from the very first sip.
Not to be forgotten are the Hermanos Lurton Verdejo 2021 and Sauvignon Blanc 2024, a pairing of remarkable harmony. The former is fresh, highly aromatic and rounded, aged on the lees with beautifully balanced structure. The latter perfectly illustrates the excellent adaptation of this grape variety to the appellation. And of course, Campo Elíseo Rueda Verdejo 2017 and 2022. Aged entirely in new oak barrels, the 2017 is powerful and flavoursome, “with a bitterness that invites tasting. It even appears fresher than the 2022,” according to Lurton.
The tasting bells ring with Campo Elíseo Harmonía 2022, a Sauvignon Blanc and undoubtedly the most exclusive white wine of the Rueda appellation. With production limited to just 900–1,000 bottles, Lurton expresses his delight, admitting he never thought it possible to achieve such quality and balance in a Sauvignon Blanc. Ample, nuanced, delicate and supremely elegant. In Greek mythology, the Elysian Fields — or Elysium — represent the blessed fields. Etymologically, enêlúsion (ἐνηλύσιον) means “the place struck by lightning”: the eternal paradise of heroic and virtuous souls, and the name chosen for this wine of great nobility.
