2018 Ca' di Mat Valautin Garnacha

Region: Sierra de Gredos, Spain

Grape: Garnacha

Culinary Suggestions: Tapas, Chorizo, Paella, Game Meats

Vineyard Practice: Sustainable

About

I am really happy to be able to bring the superb wines produced by Curro Bareño and Jesus Olivares at Ca’ di Mat (meaning ''Crazy House" in Italian) to Australia. Having held a passion for wines produced from Grenache, or Garnacha here, for my whole career I was bowled over by the wines from Spain's Sierra de Gredos upon first tasting them some years ago. 

Stylistically they are truly sui generis - mountain wines from ancient bush vines, grown on decomposed granitic soils between 600-1000m altitude. This means they are taut, crisp and pure in style, relatively low in alcohol for Grenache and somewhat lighter in colour too. These are athletic mountain wines though, they have a tension and vigour that put's them up there with the very very best.

The estate has 20 hectares of 30-80 year old vines which are cultivated organically and include Garnacha and Albillo. Much of the vineyard land is under recovery and this is being undertaken slowly to ensure the old vines have a chance to recover, rather than replanting. It is a continental climate with annual average at rainfall 600 mm and annual average temperature of only 13,7 º C.
Wine making is along the minimal intervention path that we like; indigenous yeasts, cold gentle macerations and the use of whole brunches produce delicate, fragrant and ethereal wines to fascinate and delight.

We look forward to bringing these beautiful wines to you here in Australia! - Importer Note

Tasting Notes

The second vintage the village red, the 2018 Valautín Garnacha is from a cold and wet year, a very different year than 2017, which was warm and dry. The wine was produced in the same way as the 2017, fermentation with full clusters, followed by a long maceration and an élevage of one year without racking in oak containers of different sizes, this year including a 5,000-liter oak vat, as volumes had grown. I love the nose here, which shows the full clusters in the long maceration, a note of gunpowder and a slightly deeper colour (as I've seen in cooler vintages in the village of San Martín), and it is less developed and more primary than the 2017. The profile is quite different—this feels cooler, more vertical, very intense and long, with a granite-driven texture. It finishes long and tasty. Amazing! 

92+ points - Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate April 2020