For the first time to the States in 2024, one of two micro-projects created at Bodegas Tierra thanks to the support of owner, Carlos Fernández. Behind Tronado Wines are Guillermo Fernández and Catalin Grad, both workers at the winery, while Área Pequeña is the brand of the footballer (soccer) brothers Joseba and Koldo García Quintana (Náxara CD and Palencia CF respectively).

With the support of his brother Fidel, winemaker at Bodegas Luis Cañas and Guillermo's father, the Labastida producer decided to mentor both projects altruistically but also out of "pure selfishness,” he says. "We spend all day complaining about the sharks, but if we get young people involved so that in the future they can set up serious, sustainable businesses, they will guarantee my retirement and the future of my children and the region,” says Carlos, whose grandfather was one of the founders of the cooperative. We need to have a greater number of small wineries and be more like Burgundy in that sense.”

Catalin (aka Cata) arrived from Romania without knowing a word of Spanish or anything about wine, but has already completed 12 harvests at Tierra. For him, the winery is like home and he is very grateful to Carlos for having given him the opportunity to work at Tierra and to support him in the creation of Tronado Wines in partnership with Guillermo. For the time being, they have released a wine, Capitán Trueno, from the 2020 vintage with grapes they buy from the winery and make in amphora and seasoned barrels for 12 months."

It is very difficult to start from scratch without the backing of a structure like Tierra, especially in our case, as we don't have our own vineyard. By the time the wine is released, it's almost three years worth of grapes, dry goods, bottles, corks, etc. The winery helped us with all this, and now that our wine is finally on the market, we can start paying for things", explains Cata, 31 years old, in perfect Spanish.