This project involves four partners with close ties to the Sierra de Salamanca, a humid, rugged wine region in the southern tip of Castilla y Léon, vitually on the border with Extremadura and very close to Portugal. They are César Ruiz, from wine importer Alma Vinos Únicos and Madrid-based merchant La Tintorería, who previously involved in Mandrágora Vinos de Pueblo, also in the area; local grower Bosi Jiménez; winemaker Alberto Martín, with ample experience in the region; and Miquel Udina, former technical director of DOP Sierra de Salamanca.
Viñas Serranas was launched in 2017 under the VT Castilla y León designation, but from the 2022 vintage the wines will be labelled as Sierra de Salamanca PDO. The indigenous Rufete is the dominant grape variety. It displays a floral and crisp red fruit character, while reflecting the differences between the granite and slate soils that are found in the region. The group also work with lesser known varieties like Rufete Blanco and Calabrés, which is the local for Garnacha.
They own 12 hectares, mostly small plots on terraces planted with old, goblet trained vines. The village of Molinillo has an unusual soil known as corneana, a blackish hard slate.
All wines are made with indigenous yeasts, fermented in tanks, foudres or barrels with varying percentages of stems and aged in seasoned 300-litre and 500-litre barrels for 10-12 months.
The wine range takes its inspiration from Burgundy. It starts with a regional Rufete red called Ciclón (13,500 bottles, €11 in Spain), from a mix of soils (granite, slate, corneana) and villages (Miranda del Castañar, Garcibuey and Molinillo), and moves on to single-vineyard, limited production wines -generally fewer than 1,000 bottles- which are named after the plots they come from.
Rufete is the basis of Fuente Grulla (€20), a wine that comes from 0.55Ha planted in Molinillo in 1918 on corneana-clay soils at 850m elevation on a south-east facing slope. The top Renvivas (€42) is also made from Rufete, but in this case grapes are sourced from a plot (less than half a hectare) located in Miranda del Castañar and planted in 1930 on a steep hillside. In this transition area between granite and slate, Rufete shows its most refined and fragrant qualities.
Other wines in the range include the fresh, herbal El Canchorral (€20), a field blend made from a vineyard at 900m elevation in Monforte de la Sierra, the wettest area in the region, registering over 1,400mm of rain. Rufete is dominant but there is also some Tempranillo, Calabrés (Garnacha), Bastardo (Trousseau) and 30% white grapes which are fully fermented with stems. This wine will be released with the VT Castilla y León seal.
Meanwhile La Pivonera (€25) comes from one of the few old pure Calabrese (Garnacha) vineyards, planted in 1920 at 800m elevation on granitic soil. The white wine El Helechal (€20) is made from Rufete Blanco, a recovered variety with a short-track record in the area. Viñas Serranas sources the grapes from its youngest vineyard, which is located in Garcibuey on a 40% aspect slope on slate soils. Fermented partially with skins, the wine displays herbal and honeyed notes and a full, unctuous palate.
