2020 Comando G "El Reventon", Castilla y León, Spain

ABOUT THIS WINE

While sandy granite soils with varying amounts of quartz and clay are the norm in the Sierra de Gredos, there are some vineyards on schist and slate soils as well. El Reventón, a 1-ha parcel of around 70-year-old Garnacha at 900 meters above sea level, is planted on just such a rare outcropping of slate. It stands in contrast with Comando G’s other wines as more wildly aromatic, darker, richer, and with a firmer structure. Broken into two sections by the crest of a hill, each parcel in exceptional vintages, such as 2016, is fermented, aged, and bottled separately.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

Daniel Landi and Fernando Garcia, friends since college, found themselves working in the area centered around the Sierra de Gredos: Daniel at his family’s estate, Bodegas Jimenez-Landi, and Fernando at Bodega Marañones. Drawn to the mountains and rumors of small, nearly inaccessible vineyard plots located high in the Sierra de Gredos, over time, they began purchasing and leasing the best sites they could find, creating their own project, Comando G in 2008. Along with the pioneers of the Priorat, Daniel and Fernando are redefining what was previously viewed as a workhorse variety, Garnacha, into something that can rival the elegance and finesse of Pinot in Burgundy or Syrah in the northern Rhône.

The vineyards that Daniel and Fernando have assembled are all farmed biodynamically. These vines range from 50 to 80 years old and are planted on sandy soils weathered from granite, slate, and quartz. A combination of high altitude, freely draining soils, and a mild and fairly humid micro-climate – for central Spain – guarantees a long growing season and a modest alcohol level in the finished wines. The resultant wines are startlingly pale, extraordinarily aromatic, and intensely flavorful. Each site is harvested by hand, usually in October, fermented by indigenous yeasts in open-top French oak casks, then aged in a combination of 500-700L French oak barrels, foudre, and clay amphorae.