Noelia de Paz spent the beginning of the century carousing amongst the family vineyards that her brothers planted in 1999, though her hometown region, DO Tierra de León, didn’t achieve DO status until 2007. It was there, during this time working in her family’s winery Bodegas Tampesta, that Noelia’s love and dedication for León’s native grape varieties, Albarín and Prieto Picudo, really flourished. She has since fallen hard and isn’t looking back on her quest to become the Queen of Albarín.

Realizing the scarcity of many profound or dynamic expressions of these unique varietals in the market, the very ambitious Noelia de Paz is finally realizing her independent LaOsa mission to work closely with the local farmers to produce small production wines from her native DO Tierra de León. Today, Noelia, who refers to herself as LaOsa (the bear) carefully elaborates some of Spain’s mostly harshly ignored varietals, Prieto Picudo (Tinto) and Albarín (Blanco), in the Municipal of Valdemimbre in the southwest of León, within the Province of Castilla y León.

Noelia has also spent many years collaborating with friends and mentors throughout her travels to produce various vinous gems from the vineyards of neighbors in DO’s in Bierzo and Rías Baixas.

Noelia preserves the authenticity of the land by respecting the work and the experience of the landowners from the generations proceeding her by sourcing fruit from farmers who use traditional vineyard practices and avoid mechanical intervention as much as possible. She then applies her prowess in the winery to reach full grape expression while maintaining the acidity, oak and alcohol in balance, something not often achieved in León. Her dynamic presence is felt with every sip. ¡Viva LaOsa!