On Friday the 23rd of April we are joined by Juan Principe from Bodega Cesar Principe for another edition of our talk show “Cellar Talks”. Juan will join us to talk about his career in wine, the family winery, their great wines and the Cigales region in Spain.
About Bodega Cesar Principe
The story of Bodega Cesar Principe started like a lot of winemakers in the Cigales appellation, but it turned out different and now stands out of the rest. The Principe family has made wine at least since Juan’s great-grandfather “Eutiquio”, just as food, to feed himself and his friends. In their region it was usual to have your own underground cellar to make your own wine (always rosé wine), Juan’s great-grandfather and grandfather lived the wine as food; bread, potatoes and wine was their main diet, calories and energy to work in the field and easy the pains of the hard work.
Juan’s father went on their way, but with another perspective, he started to meeting people from the “wine world” and he realized he had very old vines, almost 100 years, good climate, good soils and good friends who each of them knew how to make a great red wine, and this is how “Cesar Príncipe” winery was born. In 2000 Ignacio built the actual winery above the ground, and with 94 Parker points for their flagship wine “Cesar Principe” they are one of the first reds of the Cigales appellation to be present on the menus of the most prestigious restaurants. And that is how Cesar Principe established name and became a great red wine maker in a region of traditional rose wines.
About Juan Principe
Our guest Juan Príncipe is the son of Ignacio Principe, the leading man behind the Cesar Principe winery. After his education and work in the winery Juan decided to take a different direction for his future. He decided to visit different places, different worlds and create his own ideas and thoughts about the family business.
Juan studied computer enginering till the 3rd year, when he realized that programming was not his future job. As a next step he started to research the world of advertising, he loved it but never thought about “Making ads” as a job. He went to London to learn English, and discover othercultures, and after almost a year he came back to Spain (Madrid) to study a creativity advertising master. This is where he started to actually work in the advertising industry, for big brands and famous content platforms.
After gaining these experiences he decided that It was time to come back home and work full time with his father in the winery, but with his own perspective and ideas. He still has a lot to learn, in his own words: “I don´t know anything” but he is eager to learn, work hard and do his best to step in the footsteps of father, grandfather and his ancestors.
His job in the winery can be pruning the vines, bottling the wines, working with his father or as he says it: having a great cellar talk with one of the most popular instagram blogs of the Netherlands! Each day is different.
The Tasting
In the show we will also be tasting one of the Cesar Principe wines; the César Príncipe 2017. This red wine is the flagship wine of the company and named after Juan’s grandfather (Ignacio’s father) who played a crucial role not only in the winery as it is today, but also in the region and beyond that.
We are looking forward to talking to Juan and learning from his background, experiences and the winery. In the show we will also be tasting one of their wines; the César Príncipe 2017. Be sure to tune in on Instagram Live through our Dutch Wine Apprentice account on Friday the 23rd of April, 19:30h CET.
Click here for instructions on how to follow a live show on Instagram Live. If you have questions for our guest you are welcome to prepare them and e-mail them to us or send them as a direct message on our Instagram account.
You can find a link to the recording of the show here.
