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.

Las Umbrias is a single vineyard of gnarled old garnacha vines on sandy granite and clay at 1,000 meters. The grapes are hand-harvested and ferment with natural yeasts in open-topped oak vats before aging for 14 months in 1,200 liter used oak foudres. An ethereally light red, like the ghost of red berries, mint, tea, garrigue, grapefruit, so many flowers, dripping lillies, orange blossoms. An incredibly poetic wine.