Vinos de Madrid, Spain
Bernabeleva
Bernabeleva is a family-owned winery established in 1923. It is in San Martin de Valdeiglesias, a town about 70 km west of Madrid in the Sierra de Gredos. Bernabeleva focuses on sublime high-altitude grenache wines which have great finesse, wonderful fruit in balance with acidity and fine tannins. The winery is owned by Juan Diez Bulnes, while the wine-making is led by Miguel Maestre.
Vinalia is building a special relationship with Bernabeleva. In fact, one of their wines, the 2019 Carril del Rey, was one of the two wines served at the Vinalia introduction in June 2023. We expect Vinalia members to have many Bernabeleva wines in the future!
Carril del Rey
Carril del Rey is the lowest of Bernabeleva’s vineyards at 680m above sea level. It is a 4.2 hectare south-facing certified organic plot with mainly granite and sandy soils. The vineyard has widely spaced 80-year old bush vines interspersed with cherry, fig and holly oak trees. It was acquired by Juan’s great-grandmother in the 1960’s from the owner of the bus line that ran from Madrid to San Martin de Valdeiglesias. Carril del Rey is Spanish for The King’s Lane that started at the Royal Palace in Madrid and ended at the western limit of the vineyard.
Grapes are hand-harvested, cooled and cold-soaked prior to fermentation at low temperatures. Skin maceration occurs over 40 days. The wine is aged for 11 months in 500 litre old oak barrels and stabilized for 6 months in stainless steel prior to bottling. Only 1,000 bottles of this wine is produced.
Arroyo de Tortolas
Arroyo de Tortolas is one of the three Vinos de Parcelas (single vineyard plots) produced by Bernabeleva. Arroyo de Tortolas is a 2.5-hectare plot of 80-year-old, low yielding Garnacha bush vines. The soils are predominantly episynite (a high-iron content granite), and the steep slopes are south-facing at an elevation of 800-850 m.
Grapes are picked manually and macerated on the skins for around 40 days. After fermentation, the wine is aged for around 12 months in oak barrels of various sizes. It is then transferred to stainless steel tanks for another 6 months prior to bottling. Around 2,800 bottles of the 2020 vintage were made.
Manchomuelas
Manchomuelas is a white wine made from a field blend from a single hillside vineyard. The wine takes its name from the hill (Mancho meaning boulder and Muela meaning millstone) containing poor-nutrient granite soils. The exact composition of the varieties and their proportions is not known but the wine likely contains Albillo, Viura and Malvar.
The vineyard is farmed organically. The hand-harvested grapes are carefully selected in the winery and then chilled for 24 hours. They are then macerated on the skins and some stems prior draining the must for a long and slow fermentation at cool temperatures. The wine is matured in 500-litre used oak barrels for 9 months without lees stirring. Around 650 bottles of this wine are made.
