2016 Emilio Moro Ribera Del Duero Clon de la Familia

Bodegas Emilio Moro traces its roots back to 1891, when Emilio Moro began farming vineyards in Pesquera de Duero, laying the foundation for one of Ribera del Duero’s most influential family wineries. Generations later, that same focus on vineyard identity still defines the estate.

Clon de la Familia is not a single-vineyard wine. It is a family decision, shaped slowly over decades. The Moro family studied their own vineyards, identifying the Tinto Fino vines that best expressed balance, depth, and character. From those vines, they selected the healthiest shoots and used their buds to graft new plantings. This long process became the foundation of Clon de la Familia, a wine built from the estate’s most expressive genetic material rather than from one site alone.

2016 began cold and wet. Low spring temperatures and heavy rainfall pushed budbreak back by a stretch. Those late rains turned out to be the whole story. The water banked in the soil carried the vines through the rest of the season. The harvest came in abundant, balanced, and fully ripe.

The 2016 pulls from three plots, not two. Cornalvo, Camino Viejo and La Mira.

Between them, they cover the three soils that define Ribera del Duero: chalk, clay, and stone. That is the entire argument for this bottle. One clone, three soils, one wine.

Maceration runs for about 26 days in small tanks. Malolactic follows, then ageing in the house's most exclusive French oak.

Clon de la Familia carries power, but it is measured. Every choice reflects intention, from the decades-long vine selection to the way depth and structure are held in check. This is a Ribera del Duero built to evolve, rewarding patience rather than chasing immediacy.

Only ten cases of the 2016 reached the US. There are perhaps a thousand bottles of Clon de la Familia in a given year, worldwide. This is not a wine the family makes to move volume. It is the one they make to prove the clone was worth saving.

Lay it down or open it with something slow-cooked and serious. Either is defensible.