El Escoces Volante Dos Dedos de Frente

El Escocés Volante is a project in Aragón, the work of Norrel Robertson MW and his family. His wine journey began in Edinburgh three decades ago and led him part-way around the world, to Portugal, Italy, France, Australia, Chile and New Zealand - before settling in Spain in 2003.

Inspired by the terroir and the sheer quality of the Garnacha he found there - this grape became his initial focus and drive, seeking out and retrieving old Garnacha vineyards. This ‘mission’ has extended to other varieties, including an old Macabeo vineyard, planted in 1969.

As well as working closely with a select group of local growers who share his philosophy, Norrel today owns 40 hectares of mainly old vine Garnacha (between 50 and 115 years old) along with other indigenous varieties such as Mazuelo (Carignan), Moristel, Macabeo, Garnacha Gris and Provechón. El Escocés Volante have also undertaken a programme of new plantings - to create the old vines of the future. Their vineyards are based around the towns of Villarroya de la Sierra, Cervera de la Cañada, Torralba, Aniñon and Torrijo de la Cañada, 650 - 1,000 metres above sea level.

El Escocés Volante are members of the Regenerative Viticulture Association in Spain. They have been organic in practice since 2014, and have recently started the certification process. They don't use pesticides, they maintain a cover crop during winter months and create their own biochar from vine cuttings. All of their vineyards are dry grown. In the winery their bottles are 88% recycled glass and they have been moving to lighter-weight versions.

Syrah, Viognier

Predominantly Syrah with a touch of Viognier, all the grapes were sourced from the Finca del Val vineyard in Villarroya de la Sierra. This was planted in 2000, and is made up of 2 hectares of Syrah and 0.4ha Viognier at 950 metres altitude - the soil is strewn with pudding stones. The grapes were hand picked into 20kg cases, and stored at 1-2 degrees for 48 hours in a cool room before gentle crushing and cold soak for a further 6 days. Then the must was warmed and fermentation began with punch downs and pigeage.

The Viognier and Syrah grapes were harvested at the same time and were co-fermented. Then the wine was aged for 14 months in a mixture of old 650 litre French oak pipes, 500 litre old puncheons from Sylvain (French oak) and a very low toast selection of 500 litre Stockinger (Austrian) barrels.

This single-vineyard, high altitude, late-ripening Syrah blend is a ripe, meaty and supple red in the Rhône style whilst retaining a delicate perfumed character too.

This single-vineyard, high altitude, late-ripening Syrah blend is a ripe, meaty and supple red in the Rhône style whilst retaining a delicate perfumed character too.

Nolan - Text from the Spotlight on El Escoces Volante Blog

Syrah is a naturally reductive grape, this one took a while to open up but once it did, it was awesome. Here, Norrel is making a similar style to that found in the Northern Rhone. As with many in the wine trade, this region in France is a place who’s red wines he found enthralling. This single-vineyard, high altitude, late-ripening Syrah blend is a ripe, meaty and supple red in the Rhône style whilst retaining a delicate perfumed character too.

You have to pair this with a steak, its just a classic pairing! I would be interested to put one of these down in the cellar for a decade to see if this develops the enchanting, curried characters that slowly emerge with an aged Cote Rotie.