Ribera del Duero mourns the death of an important winemaker and his family in a tragic traffic accident

BarcelonaA tragic traffic accident yesterday claimed the life of winemaker Iván Sanz Cid, 48 years old; his wife, 45, and two of their three children, aged 17 and 14. The youngest daughter, aged 9, was airlifted to Burgos hospital in serious condition. Iván Sanz Cid was the general director of Dehesa de los Canónigos, one of the most recognized wineries in the Ribera del Duero designation of origin. The winery, founded by his parents, was managed by the second generation of the family: on one hand, him as general director; and, on the other, his sister Belén, responsible for the oenological part.

The accident occurred near Palencia, in the municipality of Herrera de Pisuerga, on the A-67 road. It was 4:20 PM and the family was returning from Cantabria. No other vehicles were involved in the incident. At that moment, the vehicle would have left the road and rolled over several times. Drowsiness of the driver is being investigated as the main hypothesis, according to the Central Government Sub-delegation, which cited eyewitnesses.

Iván Sanz was an agricultural engineer and had training in business management. He took over from his father just a year ago, after his father passed away at the age of 85 in May. The winery was founded by Luis Sanz and María Luz Cid on land that had belonged to the family, was sold in the 1960s, and later recovered. For many years they supplied grapes to make the prestigious Vega Sicília wines, but in 1989 the couple decided to make their own wines under their own brand. The internationalization of the winery, whose wines can be found in about twenty countries, was one of Iván Sanz's merits, who had studied in the United States and had contributed to the growth of the family winery.