Bernabeleva - Vinos De Madrid 'Camino De Navaherreros' 2021

Bernabelva was a pioneer who put Gredos on the radar of many now-famous names in Spain and the zone – names like Raul Perez, Dani Landi, and more.  Bernabeleva was a founding partner in Comando G (now only Dani Landi and Fernando Garcia) the goal of which was to help bring more attention to the zone.  The first wines of Comando G were made at Bernabeleva.

While the modern-day story of Bernabeleva begins in 2006 with Juan Bulnes hiring Raul Perez to make the winery from his family’s old vine holdings, the actual true origins of the family Domaine began with a truly inspired family member named Vicente Alvarez-Villamil in 1923. Vicente was a successful doctor in Madrid and in 1923 purchased land outside the village of San Martin de Valdeinglesias to build his estate.  Here he planted Garnacha (grenache) because he believed in this area the variety could produce wines of profound elegance and character.  The area was an ancient Celtic hunting ground with the countryside dotted with stone carvings that were believed to be bears.  Because of this, he named the estate Bernabeleva or “bears forest”.  With the Spanish Civil War erupting in 1936, his plans for the estate did not materialize.  Successive generations of the family held onto the land and maintained the vines selling the fruit to the local co-op.   As mentioned above, in 2006, Juan Diez Bulnes and Santiago Matallana Bulnes (the great-grandchildren of Vicente), inherited the vineyards and they decided to finally create the estate of Bernabeleva.

By that time in 2006, the vineyards were now 80 years old and capable of showing great ripeness and depth but more importantly, lift and freshness, which the high altitude and granite soils reflect.  To protect this unique personality of the wine from “commercial winemaking” and trends of the time, they hired Raul Perez who was proving his prowess as a winemaker championing cool climate wines.  Right away Raul hired Marc Isart to be the winemaker.  Marc worked tirelessly in the vineyards practicing viticultural methods that incorporate organics and biodynamics with astute attention to how nature works in this area.  In the winery, he also focused on low intervention methods and natural winemaking practices, preferring long fermentations and aging in large, mostly older wood so as not to destroy the amazing aromatics of these wines. Marc has now left Bernabeleva but the team carries on what he established.

A combination of estate owned fruit and purchased. All the fruit comes from the San Martin de Valdeiglesias area which is high altitude vineyards. 25 day maceration with some whole cluster. Fermentation takes place in a combination of stainless steel, concrete and large wood vats. No fining and no filtering. Aged in large upright old wooden vats or stainless steel.

"The 2021 Camino de Navaherreros feels more serious and complete, going beyond the fruit and showing some stony minerality that is more of a texture and tactile sensation rather than a flavor. This matured in 5,000- and 10,000-liter oak foudres, but there's no trace of oak" - 91 Points, Wine Advocate