Located in the Arribes del Duero Natural Park, within a Biosphere Reserve, El Hato y El Garabato is a family-run artisan winery founded by José Manuel Beneitez and Liliana Fernández in 2015.

This couple of forestry engineers, with viticultural experience in Australia, California and Portugal, decided to create their life project in this corner of rural, empty Spain close to the Portuguese border. To do so, they remodelled the old stone house built by José's great-grandfather in Formariz and settled there with their daughters to make wine and take care of the little vineyard they inherited from their family. Today they grow 12 hectares organically, divided into 32 plots, which translates into 20,000 bottles, most of which are exported. Luisfer Cabrero, one of the four children born and raised in Formariz in the last 30 years, also helps them in the winery and in the vineyards. The name of the winery refers to a passage from Don Quixote, where Sancho carries all his belongings in a bundle and a stick, and with which José and Liliana identified from their modest beginnings.

In the southwest of Zamora province and the northwest of Salamanca, Arribes has only 270 hectares listed in the Regulatory Board but it has an enormous varietal diversity and a considerably different personality from other areas of the Duero in terms of soils and varieties. The fact that it is an isolated and poor area, where there was a lot of migration, helped to preserve the local grapes, although many vines were lost due to the difficulty of growing them. There are no pre-phylloxera vines left.

José and Liliana are very active in experimenting with local varieties, working with spontaneous fermentations and seasoned barrels and just one new large cask. They don't do any filtering or fining and only use low amounts of SO2. They seek wines that balance rusticity and finesse and capture the traditional style of the area: natural acidity, Mediterranean palate and low alcohol.

Their range starts with La Xefa (600 bottles, €10), a direct-pressed rosé made from over 80-year-old vines of the Juan García variety.

A relative of Portugal's Rabigato, this is a rare local variety but one that José and Liliana like for its high natural acidity and the fine way it expresses itself in their granite soils. They make two whites under the Eclectico label, one aged for eight months in tank with its lees (2,500 bottles, €14) and the other in seasoned barrels for the same period of time (600 bottles, €14).

Otro Cuento (2,000 bottles, €18) seeks to express the granite soils of Arribes. It is made from a field blend of old vines planted with a high percentage of white grapes (between 30 and 50%) mostly Doña Blanca. The wine ferments spontaneously in vats and is aged in barrels for 10 months.

The range of reds starts with Cotexa (9,000 bottles, €12), a fresh, forthright and easy-drinking village wine made in the traditional way, blending the varieties in the vineyard, which in this case is Juan García with up to 30% white grapes. José and Liliana tread the grapes in the press and macerate the wine with the skins for three days before transferring it to used French oak barrels for seven months.

Sin Blanca (9,900 bottles, €17.50) is their flagship red and is floral, polished and savoury. Like all the reds, it is made with whole bunches from vines over 80 years old, where the Juan García variety dominates (80%), accompanied by Bruñal, Bastardillo and Rufete.

De Buena Jera (1,000 bottles, €30) is a single vineyard red from a very old vineyard at over 750 m elevation on granitic sand. They tread the bunches lightly and the extraction is gentle, pressing the cap once a day with their hands. After 35 days of maceration, the wine is aged in seasoned 225-litre French oak barrels for 18 months. The initial reduction quickly disappears to reveal a fresh, balanced wine with soft, well-integrated tannins.

Before the end of 2024, El Hato y El Garabato is releasing a new single vineyard red called Valdeformariz 2021 (600 bottles, €50). Seductive, delicate and refined but with depth at the same time, it is mostly Juan García with some white grapes. Like the rest of the reds, it is fermented with stems and with ambient yeasts and aged in barrels for 15 months.

In 2024, a red wine made only in stainless steel and in a one-litre bottle will also go on sale. It is a partnership with NatCool, Niepoort's initiative that brings together producers from around the world to make light, easy-to-drink wines.

El Hato y El Garabato is open to wine tourism and welcomes visits to both the winery and the vineyard.