Bernabeleva
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Country of Origin: Spain
Location: San Martín de Valdeiglesias, Madrid
People: Juan Diez Bulnes & Santiago Matallana Bulnes, Owners | Miguel Maestre Chimeno, Winemaker
Viticulture: Practicing Biodynamic
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With a modern highway nearing completion, San Martín de Valdeiglesias lies a mere 75 minutes from Madrid and its three million inhabitants. Yet, the journey feels much longer, both in distance and in time. As one drives west from the capital city, the terrain quickly becomes rugged and mountainous, the air cooler, and one begins to see signs of an earlier era.
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 ("the bear's forest"), held more than just an ancient history—it was, he believed, a special place to plant the noble Garnacha—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.
But 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 Granacha vineyards to purchase from neighboring properties as well. Rejecting 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.
Juan and Santiago's ambitions were well supported by the terroir. The vineyards are more than a half mile above sea level, at the foothills of the Gredos Mountains, with warm days but cool nights, and with poor, sandy soils. Viticulture is organic, with a strong biodyanamic influence. Harvesting is done by hand. In the cellar, 25-60 day macerations are employed followed by aging in primarily old barrels. All fermentations start spontaneously with indigenous yeasts. The resulting wines have ample ripeness, but also astounding buoyancy and freshness.