A Renaissance in Madrid: Maranones and Bernabeleva
10/4/11 -
Finding captivating single varietal Spanish Grenache is a challenge. Being personally obsessed with Spain's northern climates, especially those of the northwest, it is too easy to relegate Grenache to the realm of the decidedly unhip, as interesting as chewing gum: sticky, fruity, and excellent private label material. Two up and coming (Vinos de) Madrid bodegas, Bernabeleva and Maranones, from the village of San Martin de Valdeiglesias (Val-de-i-gles-i-as) have truly forced me to change my tune. Okay, from my mountain top now - GAR-NA-CHA.
This ancient wine region - San Martin - is located 45 miles due west of Spain's capital. It is no wonder that young and ambitious Madrilenos like Fer Garcia and Marc Isart, who dreamt of making natural wines that speak of the qualities of the land, were attracted to the old vines, high elevations, and poor sandy granitic soils found here. With excellent soil pHs, hot days and cool nights, spare, sun-drenched hills of grass, scrub brush, and forest, the foothills of the Sierra de Gredos mountains are an ideal place to farm organically and make natural wine. Both producers prefer to use a certain proportion of stems during maceration, which can be quite long, as long as 30 days at Bernabeleva, and favor large format barrels over barriques. New oak and sulfur are kept to a minimum. If I were to sum up the two different producers styles, Maranones would be Rhône-esque with deep expressions of aromatics and a resonant intensity of flavors, (think Oratoire St. Martin). Bernabeleva would be more Barolo or Nerello-like, with a powerful core of alcohol, acidity, minerality, and startling finesse for wines of such proportion. These producers are friends and help one another in their pursuits, even producing a wine together entitled Comando G (only available in Spain). We have learned that this kind of mutual aid can only bring further greatness to emerging wine regions, and look forward to the bright futures of these two already outstanding bodegas. - Chris Barnes
