For the past decade, the winemaking duo behind Comando G, Fernando Garcia and Daniel Gómez Jiménez-Landi, have been hanging out in the local taverns, drinking beer with the village old-timers. This seems like an odd... Read More

For the past decade, the winemaking duo behind Comando G, Fernando Garcia and Daniel Gómez Jiménez-Landi, have been hanging out in the local taverns, drinking beer with the village old-timers. This seems like an odd way for two of Spain's hottest winemakers to pass the time, but they're actually being very strategic — they're gaining precious intel about the region's old, abandoned vineyards.

Comando G calls the Sierra de Gredos mountain range home, a few hours' drive from Madrid. It's a place of ancient vines, excellent terroir and fastidiously-farmed plots—yet its treasures have until recently remained a secret to many. The New York Times' Eric Asimov is a fan, and did a deep dive into the region

Like other vertiginously steep wine regions (think the Mosel or Valtellina), much of the land is just too hard, and too time-consuming, to work and be profitable. And although wine production was valued during Franco's rule, the name of the game there was high yields and easily made wines, which just isn't what you find on these granite slopes. It's only in the past couple of decades that winemaking has reverted to an artform rather than an industry.

Daniel and Fernando focus on just one grape, the noble Grenache, which they craft into powerful, yet ethereal wines. Their inspiration comes from the French greats of Grenache, namely Château Rayas and Domaine Gramenon, in the Southern Rhône. True to that sort of influence, Comando G's wines feel featherweight in texture but offer up heaps of fine, red fruit, stony minerality and a wisp of tannic structure that combine to make a wine of pure delight.