Bernabeleva Madrid Navaherreros Garnacha 2021 (1500ml)

Bernabeleva’s ‘villages’ Garnacha blend is made from fruit grown across the estate’s parcels. Across different soils, orientations and microclimates, the vine age ranges from 50 to 90 years, providing a radiant Grenache that profoundly reflects the terroir and its high-country origins. These parcels include the curiously named Kung Fu vineyard. Juan Bulnes told us that the farmer who looks after this plot picked up this nickname for his love of Bruce Lee films. So, the vineyard also came to be known as Kung Fu. Unfortunately for his wife, Bulnes also told us that when a man gets given a nickname in this part of the country, that name immediately transfers to all the members of his immediate family. Señora Kung Fu is not amused.

Where were we? Each site is slowly vinified (40-60 days in skins) and aged separately in a combination of 500-litre casks, stainless steel and concrete tanks—depending on the features of the vintage—and this wine generally sees a measure of whole bunches for one or more of the parcels. After 12 months of aging, the wine is bottled without filtration.

With this wine, Bulnes aims to bottle the ‘spirit’ of San Martín de Valdeiglesias. Flaunting the Pinot-esque side of mountain Garnacha’s personality, it is a terribly sophisticated wine for the price. Enticing perfumes of red fruits and flowers, a gently layered but crunchy palate woven together by sleek, rocky tannins and a long, perfumed finish—a wine of superb definition, freshness and savoury finesse. It’s hard to argue with Mr Gutiérrez’s conclusion.