A Road Trip through the D.O.P Cebreros

I'd like to say it was meticulously planned but it wasn't. Meticulous planning often leads to disappointment in Spain…

This trip was very much inspired by two things; my love of Garnacha and last year's Robert Parker article about the Gredos wine region penned by the doyen of Spanish wine writing Luis Gutierrez.

I'd like to say it was meticulously planned but it wasn't. Meticulous planning often leads to disappointment in Spain so I decided to trust to luck, hoping that along the way phones would be answered and doors would be opened!

The Gredos wine region, as Churchill once said, is “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”. Actually he was talking about Russia but the quote suits Gredos wine rather well. 

In terms of varieties though it’s really very simple. You have Garnacha and Albillo Real. Almost no other variety has anything other than “casera” use so why even mention them here. Gredos is Garnacha! 

My first stop was a visit to the local co-operative in Cebreros. This is the main village in the Alberche valley and the centre for both production and the DO headquarters. Wine co-operatives have been the lifeblood of Spanish rural life since time in memoriam. Cheap and cheerful is the motto. Locally grown varieties that are made into bulk wine either for supermarket shelves, export to Asia or for any hardy soul from the village who's prepared to imbibe. The edge is often taken off it by mixing it with soda water. It’s very much about quantity over quality.

However, there’s a trend developing recently all over Spain. Wine co-operatives are flipping the coin. Quality is now far higher on their list of priorities. With the help of local quality-focused producers Spain’s co-ops are starting to knock out excellent reds & whites. 

There are few better examples than in Cebreros. Local producer Chuchi Soto of Bodega Soto Manrique has taken over the reins and is using the co-op as a base for his own superb range of wines along with breathing new life into the co-ops “El Galayo” range of yesteryear that were deemed worthy of 90 Parker points in 2018.  A case of both “El Galayo” Garnacha and Soto Manrique´s wonderfully strawberry-infused Rosado, Naranjas Azules, found their way into the boot of my car as I pondered my next destination. 

A phone call to local “rancio” producer Ruben Díaz led to a lovely chat with the man they call Mr Cebreros but unfortunately he’d chosen the day I came to his village to head in the direction from whence I came. “Haciendo compra en Madriz” was his lament. Shopping in Madrid! 

One of the really cool things about the Gredos is that no single producer dominates the market. Many of the high-altitude vines were abandoned when grandfathers & grandmothers decided they’d had enough of being cut in half by the icy wind that can come off these mountains even into the Spring months. Their kids weren’t keen to pick up the cudgel either so what resulted was a plethora of “cepas viejas” being left to wither. 

Then along came Telmo Rodrigúez. He saw the potential here and quickly set about finding those long-lost parajes that would form the source material for his Pegaso label. Others followed so that, over the course of the last 20 years, the emphasis went from “granel” gut-rot to finesse, elegance and that ethereal quality that has wine lovers salivating when the Gredos come up in conversation. 

Burgohondo village taken from the door of the bodega.

To see those long-lost parajes for yourself you really need to be prepared to venture deep into the Gredos themselves. Leaving Cebreros and following the AV-902 you skirt the expanse of water that is the Burguillo reservoir whose northern shore line will take you to the village Burgohondo (847m). I’m here with the specific intention of meeting the man behind one of the region’s rising stars, Bodega Rico Nuevo. I have better luck. Juanan, my target, is helping his grandma in the family kitchen that sits alongside the bodega. He’s only too keen to get away from peeling spuds to wax lyrical about what is a relatively new project. Not that it hasn’t already caught the eye of notable wine luminaries like Luis Gutierrez. He’s been a fan of the family’s Madrid pastry shops for a long time and is equally enthused by their wines. The project is still small but they produce 7 wines from entry-level village to single-parcela in a price range to suit all pockets. The vines are dotted all over the village and surrounding hills some of which are over 1,000 metres up. Fermentation is done in flexitank and the oak is kept to a minimum so that the character of the variety is preserved and the vagueries of the elemental conditions shine through. Rico Nuevo, by the way, was Juanan’s great grandfather who had the foresight to plant many of the vines that are being farmed today by his great grandson. The family business is pastry but they may find there’s plenty of dough in making superb Garnacha from lofty heights.

A case of 6 different wines from the range are squeezed into the boot and I bid “hasta luego” to Juanan as I’ll be back no doubt but stomach’s are rumbling like faraway thunder in these granite-strewn hills. My final port of call is the village of Villanueva de Ávila. Lunch is on the agenda and my destination is La Querencia, a restaurant with the sort of sophisticated air that isn’t often found in central Spain’s villages. The €15 set menu is simply superb. Ripe, plump aubergine filled with local goat’s cheese and succulent roast lamb, again locally sourced. All washed down with a bottle of floral, wispy house red that, almost ridiculously, comes with a bottle of soda water! As if one would want to dilute this red nectar! Owner and head chef Guzman then whispers the words I didn’t want to hear. “We have our own small bodega. Nothing fancy but we reckon it’s pretty good”. 10 minutes later 3 more bottles are being gingerly placed in the burgeoning boot come bodega. Another “until later” as Guzman and I part ways.

The wines of Rico Nuevo.

Here the fun really begins. I eschew the dull option of retracing my steps back to Madrid. I never do like the “ida y vuelta” mountain walks and instead much prefer a “ruta circular”. This, however, requires braving the Puerto de Mijares. At 1,570 metres this is one of the highest mountain passes in central Spain. Along the route I have the sensation that at any moment Michael Caine and a gaggle of Mini Coopers could come swinging around any one of the countless hairpin bends. The views over first the Alberche valley and then the southern-lying Tietar valley are spectacular but I prefer not to look! Safely down I muse what is Gredos wine. It’s such a large area and the villages are extremely isolated. Altitude is clearly a factor. The higher vineyards seem to produce a more Pinot Noir-like wine while lower down around Cebreros & San Martin de Valdeiglesias the Garnacha takes on a more Mediterranean profile. More herby & peppery perhaps. Fuller and more tannic. Orientation is a factor too. Many producers have north & south facing parcelas. And, finally, the soil. Gredos is predominantly granite but there’s also a seam of slate running from San Martín to Cebreros which imparts more minerality in some of the lower altitude wines. 

I doubt Churchill ever made it to the Gredos, and Armenian Cognac was more his thing, but if he had he may well have left with more questions than answers when it came to the moment to define Gredos wine.