A short drive from Madrid among the craggy granite peaks of the Sierra de Gredos, Fernando García and Daniel Gómez Jiménez-Landi are making some of the most exciting garnacha in the world today. Their wines are bottled under the name Comando G and come from a number of old-vine, high-altitude vineyards nestled among rockfalls and stone amphitheaters that Fernando and Daniel uncovered mostly by drinking beer in the local taverns and listening to the stories of the farmers. They are known in many taverns as the encholados or “crazy oenologists.” The farmers have been keeping alive the ancient-vine garnachas through a pure devotion though for many years there work wasn’t particularly remunerative. Many are glad to have caring hands to pass the vineyards on to. Comando G farms biodynamically but they adapt their practices to each vineyard, usually inspired by the way the vineyards were cared for by the old hands who preceded them. The winemakers take stylistic inspiration from the most famous grenache in the world, Château Rayas, renowned for wines of astonishing power, delicacy, and grace.

Rozas village wine comes from five parajes of sandy granitic soils and silt at an average altitude of 900 meters. The vineyard sites are in a narrow valley formed by the seasonal Arroyo Mingogil at the foot of Cerro de los Corzos. This is quite near the grand cru Las Umbrias vineyard. The vines are 60-year-old garnacha. The grapes were hand-harvested and fermented with natural yeasts whole-cluster in oak vats with a 35-40 day maceration period. The wine’s élevage took place in oak foudres. This is fine mountain garnacha. Pomegranate split down the middle and strawberry and a fine powdery chalk poured over delicate herbs and smoke and slices of peaches.