This opens with aromas of red cherry, minerality and chalk. On the palate, it is medium plus in body with flavors of red cherry candy, raspberry, coffee, cinnamon, minerality and earth. It has crisp acidity and some youthful tannins, although the initial entry is rounded in texture and the wine can still be described as elegant.

WINE INFORMATION

Curro Bareño and Jesus Olivares—the duo behind groundbreaking Galician projects Fedellos de Couto, and Ronsel de Sil—are now bringing their vision and expertise much closer to home, to San Martin de Valdeiglesias in the Sierra de Gredos, west of Madrid, where both started their careers.

Ca’ di Mat (literally, “House of Fools” in a Piedmontese dialect) is the name of their new project and is a collaboration with long-time friends of theirs who own a family farm in the area. Together they work the twenty hectares of the farm (50 acres), which is planted with a wide variety of trees, fruits and vines.

The climate is continental, with healthy rainfall and colder winds. Their organic, dry-farmed, old vines are bush-grown, and sit at around 800–850 meters high. The ruggedness of the terrain, the austerity of the climate and the age of the vines add up to crazy and hard labor to cultivate grapes and make wines there.

This Garnacha comes from multiple micro-vineyards planted around the village of Valdeiglesias on top of shallow soils of decomposed granite. Grapes are hand harvested, spontaneously fermented using whole clusters and then undergo a very long and soft maceration (90 days). The wine is aged half in concrete and half in used French barrels.

Charcuterie, Chicken/Turkey, Duck, Grilled preparations, Ham, Hearty stew, Lamb, Mexican, Mushrooms, Pizza, Pork, Roasted Root Vegetables, Sausage, Slow-smoked Barbeque/BBQ Sauce, Tomato Sauce