A Tasting with Comando G: The Story Behind the Wines

March 27, 2025
8 min read

Dani and Fernando, the visionary winemakers behind Comando G, visited our shop a few days ago for an intimate tasting of their latest releases. As they shared their journey—from discovering abandoned vineyards in the Sierra de Gredos to redefining Garnacha in Spain—we experienced firsthand the precision, elegance, and depth that define their wines. Read on for our notes and findings from this remarkable tasting.

Sierra de Gredos: A Once-Forgotten Land Rediscovered

Spain has changed dramatically over the past 1,000 years. Scarred by civil war, weighed down by debt, and focused on survival, it was not a country known for gastronomy or fine wine. In those difficult times, agriculture was abandoned as people fled to the cities, chasing any opportunity that didn't involve working the land.

Sierra de Gredos was no exception. This vast and beautiful mountain range—now recognized for its remarkable potential to produce fine wine—was once overlooked and forgotten. Today, it's quickly becoming one of the most exciting regions for those who value finesse, elegance, and precision in wine.

Stretching across the provinces of Toledo, Madrid, and Ávila in central Spain, the Sierra de Gredos is attracting a new generation of winemakers drawn to its unique terroir, rugged beauty, and old vines. Among them is Comando G.

Despite its growing reputation, Sierra de Gredos lacks official recognition as an appellation (DO). There is no formal designation that unites the area under a single wine identity. This is largely because the range spans multiple provinces—and with them, multiple already-established DOs: Cebreros, Méntrida, and Vinos de Madrid. Creating a unified Sierra de Gredos DO would be a bureaucratic challenge.

Origins of Comando G

The story of Comando G begins with a friendship rooted in wine, music, and shared curiosity. The two founders Daniel Landi and Fernando Garcia met while studying viticulture at university—one with experience working in vineyards, the other behind the counter of one of Madrid's top wine shops at the time. They first connected in a bar, bonding over long conversations about life, wine, minerality, traveling, and music.

Winemaking started out as a hobby—something they did after hours while still working on separate projects: one in his family estate, the other at a different winery. But what began as 'after-work work' quickly became something more.

Everything changed when they discovered an abandoned vineyard high in the mountains. One vineyard became two, then three, and eventually, they decided to leave their other commitments behind to focus entirely on what would become Comando G—a project that, as they put it, lets them 'express our hearts through wine.'

In the beginning, they were unknown—two young friends with no money, no reputation, and a passion for Garnacha in a country that didn't believe in it. At the time, Spain was dominated by bold, dark, heavily oaked wines. Their vision—centered on finesse, Garnacha, and the unique terroir of Gredos—was a radical departure. 'It was a challenge,' they've said, 'but sometimes, all you need is to trust your passion, feel it deep inside, and keep going.'

About Gredos & Garnacha

Originally from Aragón, Garnacha spread across the Mediterranean—to Gredos, Navarra, Catalunya, France, Corsica, and Sardinia—earning its place as the king of Mediterranean valleys. According to Dani and Fernando, one of the reasons Garnacha expresses itself so uniquely in the Sierra de Gredos comes down to what they call the variety's 'three great abilities.'

It's a terroir-driven grape, highly responsive to its environment. Unlike, for example, Syrah—which tends to show a consistent personality—Garnacha adapts and transforms with its surroundings.
It retains freshness and acidity, even in warm, dry climates—making it suited to the Mediterranean.
It expresses itself with brightness and elegance rather than darkness and weight—qualities Dani and Fernando are especially drawn to.

But Gredos is in a league of its own. What sets the Sierra de Gredos apart—not just from other Spanish wine regions, but from every other place where Garnacha is grown—is a rare and hard-to-replicate combination of natural conditions: ancient vineyards, some 80 to 90 years old, tucked into rugged mountain slopes; with lush green meadows, abundant rainfall, and dense forests of oak and chestnut. Some vineyards lie in the coldest zones in Spain, reaching altitudes of up to 1,200 meters, often north-facing, and right at the edge of what's even possible to cultivate. It's a world away from the sun-drenched Garnacha regions of the south and east.

The granite soils here are equally distinctive—often compared to those in Burgundy—yet their potential remained overlooked for many years. The granite soils bring verticality, minerality, and salinity, and areas of limestone add length and finesse to the palate. It's the balance between the electricity of granite and the elegance of limestone that gives Gredos its unmistakable voice—one that speaks with refinement.

And still, every five meters, something shifts: the soil, the exposure, the elevation. The result is a mosaic of micro-terroirs. Even though the conditions are exceptional and the fruit is beautiful, Fernando and Dani remind us that it's not just about nature. 'You need a human touch,' they say. 'With amazing grapes, you can make something great—or something terrible. But with bad grapes, you'll only ever make bad wine.'

Respecting nature, understanding its rhythm, and interpreting it with care—that's the philosophy behind the wines of Comando G.

Terroir - The Music of the Soil

Before diving into the wines, Dani and Fernando took a moment to ground us—quite literally—in the foundation of their philosophy: the soil.

In viticulture, they explained, the mother rock is everything. Around the world, there are four main types of bedrock: granite, limestone, volcanic, and schist. Each rock is like a musical genre—it sets the rhythm of the wine. You might be playing music, but it's not the same as playing jazz, rock and roll, or heavy metal. The rock defines the tempo, the feel, the energy of the wine.

Granite gives you straightness, freshness, and acidity.
Limestone brings length, elegance, and finesse.
Schist adds complexity and structure.
Volcanic soils produce wines that are more intense, bold, and deep.

So, you need to know your family—who your 'mother' is. In their case, it's mostly granite.

Granite always comes with four key elements, which they describe as the 'captains of the soil': iron, sand, silt, and quartz. These components drive the style and character of the wine.

The exact mix varies from site to site, and each vineyard becomes like a unique character in a large family—some tall, some short, some soft-spoken, others intense. Still granite at the core, but each with its own distinct personality.

If iron dominates, the wines are more ethereal and tense.
If sand leads, you get balance and finesse.
If it's silt, the wines are smooth, elegant, and complex.
If it's quartz, you get sharpness, energy, and tension.

The Wines & Winemaking Philosophy

The winemakers follows a classification system inspired by Burgundy—organizing the range into village wines, made from fruit sourced from the named village and its surroundings; premier crus, which come from a single, defined site; and grand crus, crafted from specific parcels within those individual vineyards.

Comando G - Villanueva de Ávila 2023

Coming from the village of Villanueva de Ávila, a village that has more silt in the granite, which retains water and gives us a wine that's smooth, delicate, and refined.

Visually, the wine has a cappuccino or café latte hue—a light brown.

Commando G - Navatalgordo 2023

Navatalgordo neighbor to Villanueva, only divided by a small stream. Each village has its own soil character the two soils might sit just a few meters apart, but the wines they produce speak in completely different tones.

This second wine in the tasting, shows a more angular, mineral, and chalky profile. Made the same way as Villanueva, the difference lies entirely in the terroir. The tannins here are more granular, and the wine finishes drier and slightly more powerful, with less of the ethereal character seen in the Villanueva. It needs more time to fully balance.

In Navatalgordo the soil is more quartz-heavy. The granite here drains faster, resulting in a wine that's sharper, more tense, with precision and verticality. The comparison to Barolo is helpful—if Villanueva is like La Morra, softer and more open, Navatalgordo is closer to Serralunga d'Alba, firmer and more structured. And like in Barolo, this difference is entirely due to soil.

The philosophy in the cellar is consistent. All the wines are made the same way. The goal is not to change the grape but to let the place speak. There is no new oak—aging is done in a mix of vessels like large, old barrels and concrete. As the winemaker says, "If you have the best sea bass, you don't add ketchup or curry. The same goes for oak in wine." The grapes are beautiful on their own—no need to mask them in vanilla, coconut, or toast.

Every year, every plot is fermented with 100% whole cluster; it's part of their DNA. While there's always some adaptation to the vintage, the team is very committed to this approach—' almost like Talibans,' as they put it—believing it's key to preserving the freshness and energy of the wines.

Commando G - Peña La Mora 1er Cru 2022

A new wine for Commando G, with 2022 being the inaugural vintage, beginning after the construction of their new winery. With its construction, and the subsequent release of the Peña La Mora, Commando G marks a shifting focus to working with vineyards located in the northern valleys of the Sierra de Gredos. Peña La Mora is a blend of different north-facing 1er Cru parcels, at 200 meters.

Commando G - Las Umbrías Single Vineyard 2020

Las Umbrías comes from a small, half-hectare vineyard that faces east—meaning the grapes ripen gently under the morning sun, avoiding the harsher light of the afternoon. This slower, more delicate ripening translates into a wine that is floral, lifted, and full of finesse.

The soil here is granite-based, but the 'captain' of the vineyard is iron, which brings a sense of tension and elegance.

Commando G - Las Iruelas Single Vineyard 2021

The final wine, Iruelas, comes from a high-altitude site at 1,000 meters. The bedrock here is schist, which gives the wine a completely different dimension.

On the Aging Potential

When asked about the aging potential of their wines, the winemakers are clear: it's a matter of personal taste. Some people prefer Garnacha young, for its bright fruit and approachability. Others wait for it to enter that decadent, savory phase that only comes with time. Much like Pinot Noir, Garnacha is a variety that's drinkable from the start—you might like it more or less, but it's open and expressive even in youth.

That said, they believe the first truly special window comes around 7 to 8 years after harvest. That's when the wines begin to show deeper complexity, tension, and harmony. It doesn't mean you can't enjoy them young—it simply means they prefer them at that point.

With four decades of experience in wine, they speak from observation, not theory. Some of their bottles at 15 years of age are still fresh and full of life. No one knows whether they will still be improving, but for now, the wines are holding beautifully.

There's also a common misconception that only dark, full-bodied wines can age. 'That's not true,' they say. 'Forget the idea that a wine needs to be dark to last.' In fact, the trend today often favors wines with transparency and brightness, and in Spain, that shift in mentality has taken time—but it's happening.

Behind the Name

The name Comando G comes from a Japanese cartoon popular in Spain in the 1970s—a team of five young heroes fighting to save the planet. The winemakers saw themselves in that youthful spirit and decided to have some fun. They were in their twenties when they started making wine, and all the typical names felt too serious, too traditional. They wanted something playful, something that spoke to their generation.

The 'G' stands for many things—Garnacha, Gredos, Granite—all essential to their identity. 'We weren't trying to be clever,' they say, 'but in the end, it worked out.'

If this story sparked interest. Here are some of the wines we currently have in stock from this producer.

Pictures from when Dani and Fernando visited Vinonueva on March 2025.