Las Pedreras Pelito Lindo Garnacha 2024

There’s a saying in the business that ‘great wine starts in the vineyard’. And the winemaker’s job is to guide the grapes into bottle, leaving the drinker with a vivid sense of where the wine comes from. That’s exactly how the best do it. One of those amazing vineyards, Las Calzadas, is the main component in this wine from Gredos. Gredos is Spain’s answer to Burgundy, and its patchwork of old vineyards dotted around a remote, mountainous region of imposing granite peaks makes it all the more dramatic. I've had the pleasure of visiting it with winemaker Bárbara - even better I’d enjoyed the wine at lunch just moments before. The wine is named after the vineyard’s previous owner, an old guy who lived in nearby Villanueva de Ávila. Lots of old people in Spanish villages have nicknames - I’ve heard of La Loba (the wolf) and El Ratón (the mouse). Pelito Lindo means ‘beautiful little hair’ - Bárbara tells me he was bald with a fringe. This amazing fact aside, the wine is one of the best Garnachas in Spain. The vines are over 100 years old, and the vineyard faces south east. It produces an elegant, refined Garnacha with serious perfume and power. Think of Châteauneuf-du-Pape meets Côte-de-Nuits Burgundy, and you’re in business. I’m very lucky to work with winemakers who in turn work with some of the most special vineyard sites in the world - and this is definitely one of them!