Daniel Gómez Jiménez-Landi ‘Las Iruelas’ Tinto 2019

Location: Spain, Castilla y Leon, Sierra de Gredos

Winemaker: Dani Landi

Grapes: Garnacha

Soil: granite, slate, schist, quartz, patches of clay

Winemaking: Hand-harvested fruit, whole-cluster ferment in open vat. Aged 16 months in 500L French oak barrel.

From the Importer European Cellars: ‘Las Iruelas’ is a muscular Garnacha from a plot of 60+ year old, head-pruned vines planted at an elevation of over 1000 meters above sea level. With beguiling floral aromas that are more reminiscent of the Northern Rhône than the other bottlings from Dani, Comando G or Marañones, ‘Las Iruelas’ shares the same delicate fruit and delineated mineral structure characteristic of the Gredos, but pitched deeper and more somber.

Dani Landi was born and raised in Méntrida. His family had been grape growers for generations, and almost everyone sold their grapes to the local cooperative. At an early age, Dani knew he wanted to make wine, but what he didn’t know was that he would be part of a group of young winemakers that would discover a unique expression of Garnacha and reveal it to the world. It is a familiar story and one that seems to repeat itself. It starts with returning to the vineyard, responsible farming, the nurturing of indigenous varieties, and old vines in unique sites. The work is not easy, but the results are remarkable. In a country where Garnacha is viewed as a workhorse variety and a commodity, the Sierra de Gredos proves that there is another side to this variety and one that can rival Pinot Noir grown in Burgundy or Syrah in the northern Rhône.

Dani Landi got his start as the winemaker at Bodegas Jiménez-Landi, a company he formed with his cousin, but he left in 2012 to create his own eponymous label. In doing so, he kept part of his family’s inheritance and a few sites that he had purchased or leased himself. Dani Landi farms vineyards both in Méntrida, located south of the Sierra de Gredos, and vineyards in the province of Ávila to the north. In Méntrida, in the village of El Real de San Vicente, Dani farms scattered plots of Albillo and Garnacha destined for his village wines – Las Uvas de la Ira Albillo and Las Uvas de la Ira Garnacha. In this same village, he also farms a sparsely planted vineyard of 60+-year-old vines of Garnacha that he inherited from his family, which is the source for Cantos del Diablo. In Ávila, Dani farms two sites: Las Iruelas in the village of El Tiemblo and El Reventón in Cebreros. Las Iruelas is a muscular Garnacha from a plot of 60+-year-old vines planted on a complex and patchy terroir of mixed clay and sandy granite, schist, and quartz. El Reventón’s schist soils are unique for a region where sandy granite soils predominate. Located in the village of Cebreros, this vineyard of Garnacha is well over 70 years of age and offers a darker and starkly wild aromatic take on Garnacha de Gredos.

All of Dani’s sites combine high altitudes, freely draining soils, and a mild and fairly humid micro-climate (ask us about shivering in the vineyards in July!) – factors that guarantee a long growing season and modest alcohol levels. The resulting wines are startlingly pale, extraordinarily aromatic, and intensely flavorful. Each site is harvested by hand, usually, in October, fermented whole cluster by indigenous yeasts in open-top French oak casks then aged in a combination of foudre, 300–700 liter French oak barrels, and clay amphorae. When not making remarkably distinct and captivating wines under his own label, he shares the duties and responsibilities of Comando G, also in the Sierra de Gredos, with Fernando Garcia.