Jesús Ángel Toledo and Julián Ajenjo are two cousins based in Quintanar de la Orden (Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha). Besides getting along really well, they complement each other perfectly. Jesús, the fifth generation of farmers, is the man behind the wine whilst Julián, who is an accountant, is the no-nonsense guy crunching the numbers.
The name of their project makes perfect sense. They started out in a garage with the basics -two tanks, two barrels, a destemmer and a crusher- to produce their first 500 bottles in the 2015 vintage. The number of wines and bottles has increased since then but they remain loyal to their origins. At present, they make around 10,000 bottles of eight different wines.
The focus is on indigenous, largely forgotten grapes. They have planted one hectare to white Albilla as well as other varieties recovered by IVICAM (Castilla-La Mancha’s Institute of Vine and Wine) like Tinto Fragoso, Malvar and Moscatel Serrano, an offspring of Beba and Moscatel de Alejandría with high acidity.
Brujidera (Moravia Dulce), fondly called "Pinot from La Mancha" by the duo, is their iconic grape since they started bottling it in the 2016 vintage. Grapes are sourced from the only Brujidera vineyard left in the village, mistakenly thought to be Garnacha. They also produce two wines from Cencibel (as Tempranillo is known in the area): one without oak ageing and one with ageing called 6 de 7.
The proceeds of their red made from Tinto Velasco, an interesting late ripening variety with high acidity, go to charity. The cousins also make a Garnacha Tintorera and occassionally a Tinto de la Pámpana Blanca, a variety thought to be a mutation of Tinto Velasco with downy leaves. The red Forastera is made from Syrah -the only wine in the range featuring an international variety.
There are also two whites: an Airén sourced from a vineyard on chalky soils planted in 1940 by their great-grandparents, and Verdoncho. This variety with high acidity, low alcohol and herbal character is made as an orange wine - it is really original and full of energy.
All of the wines come from individual vineyards -as shown on the labels- and are made in limited quantities. Retail prices in Spain range between €13 for the whites and €17 to €23 for the reds. All of them are sold as VT Castilla.
