Alfredo Maestro El Marciano Garnacha

Alfredo Maestro Tejero's vineyards are located within the Ribera del Duero D.O., but Alfredo prefers not to participate in the D.O., so the wines are Vino de la Tierra de Castillo y Leon.

His are completely natural wines, with no sulphur added in the vineyard or the winery. All vineyard treatments are natural, and many of them follow, Bio-dynamic practices.

The affable iconoclast Alfredo Maestro started making wine in the late 1990's when he planted his first vineyard Almate on the Rio Duraton near his native town of Penafiel in the Ribera del Duero.

From the beginning he set out to farm his vineyard, Organically. In the cellar, Alfredo was teaching himself oenology from a book, using every winemaking trick to make a "correct" Ribera del Duero wine: yeasts, acid, enzymes, tannins, colour-enhancers, etc. In the early 2000's Alfredo had a revelation.

He started questioning as to why, as an, Organic farmer, was he using chemicals to make the finished wine. He began eliminating exogenous products and, in 2003, began making wine without any additives, including sulfur.

Over the past few years, he has been searching out abandoned or neglected vineyards around the Ribera del Duero and Madrid to convert to, Organic farming. Gradually, Alfredo has increased production, and now has 9 hectares and two small bodegas, one located in his native Penafiel in the Ribera del Duero, and the other in the Navalcarnero area, southwest of Madrid. He has emerged as one of the most lauded and dynamic natural winemakers in all of Spain.

Vineyards

70-year-old vines on granitic soils lying at an incredible 1,150 metres elevation.

Vinification

30% whole cluster, fermented with wild yeasts in vat, and matured for 4 months in used French oak.

Tasting Notes

El Marciano Garnacha Alfredo Maestro, Natural wine, organic fruit, no added sulphites, full bodied, expressive and deep and full and generous. El Marciano Garnacha, natural, rustic, fruity, no added sulphur, Spanish Grenache. Like all his wines, it's slightly rustic, but very fruity, lively and a fun bottle of authentic Garnacha.

This wines Bio-dynamic classification is uncertified.