4 Monos - Vinos de Madrid La Danza del Viento 'Arroyo de las Ánimas' 2021

4 Monos (4 Monkeys) is a team of four friends and lovers of wine native to this region. As is typical of The New Spain, this “gang of four” assembled in a less conventional manner: they met while hiking in the Gredos mountains, one of the most profound wine terroirs to emerge in recent years.

Located 80km west of Madrid, the Sierra de Gredos is a mountain range that spreads over parts of three appellations – Méntrida, Vinos de Madrid, and Castilla y León – and sits between 600 and 1200 meters in elevation. Old bush vines planted on sand, granite, and schist intermingle with sweet-scented olive, evergreen, almond, and chestnut trees, scrub brush, chamomile, and wildflowers. This is a landscape that feels like a holy collision between the Mediterranean and the Alpine, and the region is often deemed magical for its beauty and immense diversity.

It is this terroir that 4 Monos champions with organic farming, and articulates so beautifully with their utterly crystalline and transparent wines. 4 Monos is comprised of winemakers Javier García (formerly the head winemaker at Méntrida icon Bodegas Jiménez-Landi) and Laura García, wine-lover David Velasco, and vineyard holder David Moreno, and 2010 was their first vintage as a team. Over ten years they have acquired 5 hectares of their own vineyard parcels, a small bodega with built-in concrete tanks in Cadalso de los Vidrios, and are also working another 5ha with local growers who share their passion for organic farming practices. By putting a focus on the land and the variances in terroir from village to village, they have brought the potential of the Gredos terroir to the world’s attention and revived production from grapes such as Morenillo and Cariñena.

Minimalism reigns supreme in their cellar. For the white wines 4 Monos harvests for acidity, barrel-ferments, and raises them in neutral French oak. They produce two whites - a regional blanco from old-vine Albillo with Viura and Moscatel, and a 95 year-old Albillo sourced from three vineyards in Cadalso de los Vidrios. For the reds, they pick Garnacha, Cariñena and Morenillo as soon as they achieve initial ripeness, and vinify using whole grape clusters, gentle extraction, and aging in neutral oak of varying sizes. A variety of reds are produced: a regional tinto from multiple villages in the Gredos that is affordable and highly representative of the Sierra de Gredos terroir; a lithe and complex wine from the high elevation village of Cenicientos; and a red from multiple parcels in Cadalso de los Vidrios, all in view of the Abuja del Fraile (friar's needle) rock formation.

“The new single-vineyard red 2021 La Danza del Viento Arroyo de las Ánimas (bottled in 2020 but sold almost exclusively to the Mugaritz restaurant) comes from a plot between the lieux-dits of La Alberca and Lancharrasa between Cadalso and Cenicientos at 960 meters above sea level, with a west exposure but very shady, as it’s on a forest slope. The soil is very shallow degraded gray granite. The wine is perfumed and ethereal, with floral and citrus notes and is structured but with silky tannins. It was picked at the end of September and fermented with 100% uncrushed grapes, mostly full clusters and indigenous yeasts, and the wine matured in 500-liter barrel for 15 months. It has an expressive nose that is floral, with the herbal side from Cenicientos. It has a solid palate with great harmony, fine tannins and supple flavors and a long, clean and focused finish; this is closer to the La Isilla than Molino Quemado but doesn’t quite reach the same refinement and elegance. It has a moderate 13.5% alcohol, with a pH of 3.31 and 5.85 grams of acidity. Only 654 bottles produced. It was bottled in June 2023.” - 95 Points, Wine Advocate

Producer: 4 Monos

Country: Spain

Region: Madrid

Varietal: Garnacha

Appellation: Vinos de Madrid

Vintage: 2021

Size: 750ml