Escalera 2019

Ruben Diaz is born and bred in Cebreros, Avila, one of the villages at the forefront of the Gredos wine reawakening. And he, like his much more celebrated and better known peer Dani Landi, is one of the emblematic winemakers of the area. He believes that Garnacha is a part of his DNA. It was back in 1999 when the rights to their land were about to be sold that Ruben went to check out the vines. He's never been involved but studied, learnt from others and fell in love with Gredos Garnacha. He is interested in keeping wine keeping as it has been done for hundreds of years - with minimal intervention to truly express the exact state of the soil, the winemaker, the vineyard. He doesn't use a single non-organic solution. "I'm happy with my work, and they say that it always shows in the results". Winemaking Detail: 60-80 year old vines. Destemmed; pressed and fermented in SST with skin contact for 30 days. Aged in two year old used French Oak for 9 months with its fine lees. Bottled without filtering.

60-80 year old vines. Destemmed; pressed and fermented in SST with skin contact for 30 days. Aged in two year old used French Oak for 9 months with its fine lees. Bottled without filtering.

Sweet; ripe; fresh black fruit nose with chocolate; figs; kirsch and a touch of liquorice. The palate offers more dark red fruit; with cooked red cherries; strawberries and cranberries. There is a mineral edge that is sweet; velvety and elegant. It is juicy with a lovely high acidity finish of redcurrant and summer berries. Fine dusty tannins.

Game, Hoisin-duck, Venison

The wine region of Sierra de Gredos, 90 minutes west of Madrid, is found around its namesake mountain range where it enjoys a warm continental climate at 650-1200m altitude. Here, its ancient winemaking culture has been reawakened by a new young crowd making their mark on the international wine scene. Predominantly growing organically with no added yeasts and using huge oak barrels and tinajas (clay jars), they make wines from old vine Garnacha and Albillo in sandy, slate and granitic soil. Though the Garnacha here tends to be more acidic and tannic, having evolved on these higher granitic soils they age well and can have an ethereal, almost Burgundian finesse, developing tertiary notes of forest floor and mushrooms.