Bernabeleva

Here, on the eastern edge of Spain’s Sierra de Gredos mountains, a renowned Madrid doctor named Vincente Alvarez-Villamil purchased land in 1923. The site, which at that time was a full day’s travel from Madrid, spoke of its Celtic past, with ancient bears carved from boulders to mark forests dedicated to the hunt goddess.

But the estate, which Vincente named Bernabeleva, or bear’s forest, held more than just an ancient history. It was, he believed, a special place to plant the noble Garnacha (Grenache) and a place whose wines might exhibit profound character. But the next decade brought increased political instability to Spain, and the Civil War that erupted in 1936 devastated the country. Though the family held onto the land, Vincente’s dream of making wine ended for the time being

In 2006, two of Vincente’s great-grandchildren, Juan Diez Bulnes and Santiago Matallana Bulnes, vowed to fulfill their ancestor’s dream. The estate’s vineyards were now 80 years old, and there were Garnacha vineyards to purchase from neighboring properties as well. Rejecting then current fashions in Spanish wine, the cousins resolved to make wines of purity and expressiveness that were in harmony with the beauty of their ancestral land.

Many of the vineyards here are at more than 500m elevation, and warm days with cool evenings are the norm in summer. The resulting wines are unlike anything else in Spain, with ample ripeness but also astounding buoyancy and freshness. The project only needed people with the right knowledge and aesthetic to reveal the region’s potential.