Bernabeleva Madrid Camino de Navaherreros Garnacha 2022
$36.99
SPECIAL BUY 6 or more. Grenache from Madrid.
Description
Located in the mountains northwest of Madrid at the eastern edge of Spain’s Sierra de Gredos, Bernabeleva produces Garnachas unlike any others in the world—intense yet ethereal wines that give voice to an enchanting region few had heard of even a decade ago.
San Martín de Valdeiglesias is the westernmost sub-region of the DO Vinos de Madrid. The first wines were cast at Bernabeleva in the 1930s, and the estate’s vineyards are still chiefly based on Dr. Álvarez Villamil’s original 1923 Garnacha and Albillo bush vines. These old vines eke out their living at around 800 metres altitude under the commanding peak of the Cerro de Guisando. This sandy and granite-rich highland terroir is a magical mountain country full of rocky peaks and scrubby pine forests, still infused with a strong legacy of its Celtiberian heritage.
The challenge in this extreme climate and poor soil has always been to produce wines of finesse. A strong supporter of biodynamic viticulture, Marc Isart has a passion for place and produces wines of great transparency. Of course, it is the vineyards that determine the potential quality—the high altitude and naturally low yields from poor, sandy soils both serve to encourage vivid, balanced raw materials. Yet Isart’s way of working in these vines and in the cellar, moulds wines of enormous depth and complexity combined with great precision and delicious drinkability, all without any loss of intensity or power.
Isart starts with hand-picked, biodynamic fruit. He employs long macerations, whole-bunch ferments, limited usage of SO2 and aging in used barrels (so as not to mask the wines’ glorious aromatics). At the core of the offering is a collection of deep, savoury and extravagantly perfumed Garnachas, while the tiny old-vine parcels of Viña Bonita and Arroyo del Tórtolas synthesise all the magical qualities of this region like few others.
Camino de Navaherreros is the entry-level Garnacha, drawn from a combination of organically grown estate owned fruit and some purchased grapes from trusted sources. Regardless, all the fruit comes from a range of plots within San Martin de Valdeiglesias region where the high-altitude vineyards are rooted in the granitic sands of this area of the lower Gredos.
For the winemaking, the grapes undergo a 25-day maceration, including some whole bunches, and fermentation takes place in a combination of stainless steel, concrete and large wood vats.
Following blending, the wine raised in upright old wooden vats and bottled without filtration.
Flaunting the Pinot-esque side of mountain Garnacha’s personality, this is a super sophisticated wine for the price, with a soaring perfume of red fruits, violets and something like garrigue or hot rocks and well as a gentle structure and mouth filling complexity. The palate is layered but crunchy, with the same notes as the nose as well as deft, sleek, rocky tannins. Free from the confronting excesses of internationalisation or the rustic tannins and high alcohols that often shape this region’s red wines, it stands out for its superb definition, freshness and savoury finesse.
Mike Bennie from the Wine Front had this to say about the wines from Bernabeleva ...”Grenache does superbly well in Australia, but where I am really excited about drinking the variety from is Madrid’s high country DO. Old vines, elevation, rugged vineyards, old school winemakers, some new-schoolers but most all just wanting to show us a pure expression of the variety from their place. Indeed, for mineral-laden red wines of bright fruit and ease of drinking, Madrid DO grenache has to be right, right up there in the list. This is killer gear right here.”
Review of 2021: 91 points, Luis Gutierrez, Wine Advocate “The 2021 Camino de Navaherreros feels more serious and complete, going beyond the fruit and showing some stony minerality that is more of a texture and tactile sensation rather than a flavor. This matured in 5,000- and 10,000-liter oak foudres, but there’s no trace of oak.”
RRP $42 **Our Special Price $36.99 when you buy 6 or more of this wine**
Additional information
Region or Country | Madrid, Spain |
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Variety | Grenache and Blends |
Vintage | 2022 |
Producer | Bernabeleva |
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