Las Moradas 'Senda' 2013

For years, the foothills of the Sierra de Gredos mountains were riddled with bandits. One night, they kidnapped the baby daughter of the local judge who had promised to rid the region of their scourge. As well as taking the baby, they plundered his precious vines, stripping them of fruit. The judge should know his place. He was, of course, heartbroken.

Trackers scoured the area, but the rough terrain and mountain scrub yielded no clues as to where the baby had been taken. Until years later. Wandering the hills ever hopeful, the judge noticed familiar vines growing along a barely defined track. They were unmistakably descended from pips the bandits must have scattered as they fled with his daughter. The path led right to her. This wine is made in celebration of their reunion, from those grapes that lined the way.

The Las Moradas de San Martin winery is located on the fringes of the Sierra de Gredos, 870m above sea level and to the south-east of Madrid, Spain. It is surrounded by twenty-one hectares of vineyards that boast old Garnacha vines. The unique climate and soils that belong to the area provide great conditions for producing high quality wines from the indigenous grape.

The winery project began in 1999 and operates on a foundation of tradition methods whilst making use of the resources offered by the land and caring for the surrounding environment. The vineyards at Las Moradas de San Martin are nourished using only organic fertilisers so as to maintain balance with the natural environment.

Grapes are harvested by hand to allow the best preservation of the fruit. This then maximises the quality of the wine and allows it to fully show the characteristics of the grape. Stalks are removed from the fruit before maceration and fermentation using the grape’s own yeast, this include a gentle pumping over. Malolactic fermentation then takes place in a tank without the addition of bacteria. The wine undergoes the ageing process in French oak barrels for ten months. Barrel sizes and ages differ according to the characteristics of each vineyard. The wine is finally carefully blended in a tank before it is bottled without undergoing clarification or filtration.

Las Morades ‘Senda’ is a fresh and aromatic red wine that wonderfully presents the spirit of the Garnacha from the estate. In appearance, it shows a cherry-red colour before revealing typical floral aromas alongside plums against a mineral background. The fruit shows its personality on the palate where it is accompanied by subtle hints of oak and a lingering finish.