If you are looking for a treat yourself or for the wine lover in your life, here is a Spanish red that will surprise and please in equal measure. 

This full bodied wine has the dark fruit flavours of a Mediterranean wine but is beautifully balanced by the naturally high acidity of the Mencia grape, which provides a sense of freshness to the wine. This fascinating blend of five grapes is mostly Mencia which makes up 90% of the wine with the remaining grapes being Brancellao, Mouton, Souson and Garnacha Tintorera. The wine was aged for 12 months in old French oak barrels. 

Spain is known for its wealth of old vines, mostly grown en vaso (in the shape of a vase) and low to the ground to keep them anchored since there is no trellis they can rely on for support.

These sturdy vines have hefty trunks and, impressively, produce grapes even when they are 100 years of age and older. The fruit tends to taste extremely concentrated and is not exactly plentiful on these old vines, which can yield as low as one to 1.5 kgs of grapes per vine but the results are worth retaining these beautiful, noble and commanding old plants. 

100% Chardonnay from the Catalonian region of Penedes in Spain, sandwiched between the Mediterranean and the local coastal mountains not far from Barcelona. The region is famed for its Cava production but here we see new wave wine makers Cellers Avgvstvs Forvm working with a Chardonnay and showing how modern Spanish winemaking is evolving.

Aged in French Nevers oak for 4 month and offering plenty of tropical and citrus fruit flavours and aromas.

100% Bobal from DO Manchuela near Cuenca. 

Bodegas Ponce has been at the forefront of modern Spanish wine since their inception in 2005. 

Juan Antonio Ponce's dream was to make wines with the old vineyards of his native Manchuela. He attended viticulture and enology school when he was 14 years old, and after five years of working with Telmo Rodriguez after his graduation he started his own winery Bodegas Ponce when he was 23 years old. Inspired by his years with Telmo and the growing minimal intervention movement in France. He approached his native varietal Bobal in a way unlike that of neighbors. Farming sustainably, with organic and biodynamic principles and harvesting the grapes weeks before his neighbors. In the winery he works simply and cleanly, whole bunch fermentation, native yeast fermentation and aging in old wood vats. His wines are more like those from Beaujolais and the Loire Valley than Rioja and Priorat. What is fascinating is that Manchuela is a region where the locals joke that there are nine months of winter and three months of hell, which sounds nothing like the bucolic hills of Beaujolais nor France?s garden, the Loire valley. The P.F. stands for Pie Franco. The vineyards for this wine range in age from 40 to 90 years old and they are all ungrafted. Juan Antonio?s wines are some of the most elegant wines being made in Spain.

Joven means young in Spanish and refers to red wines with low to no oak, like this lush, fruity Spanish red made from the most popular grape in Spain, Tempranillo. This wine is full of dark plum flavours in this firmly textured red wine. 

It offers exceptional value for money and is certified organic.

Calatayud, a small appellation in the heart of Arag6n, Spain. A hidden valley and home to the red garnacha grape. A valley where the working conditions are difficult for the farmers. Rough slate soils, old bush vines planted on steep slopes up to 1,100m, hot summers and cold winters where rainfall is scarce and the wind is
always blowing. Furthermore, they have to deal with a fragmented landscape of small parcels and rarely have a successor for their years of hard labour. It's tough and challenging, and yet, they understand the value of their soil and grapes, each plot providing a distinct character to the grape compared to its neighbour. Las Pizarras (the slate soils) is our range showcasing the diversity of the region. Named after the town or plot the grapes originate from, each wine in the collection expresses its unique character, but all are born out of soil, nature and the right human touch.

FABLA is a language used in several places in the north of the autonomic
community of Arag?n for over 1.000 years. Today is used by just 12.000 people.

Harvest: End of September, beginning of October
Clasification: Calatayud DO
Grape varieties: 80% Garnacha 20% Syrah
Vinification: Direct incubation and fermentation for 15 days at no more than
16 degrees Celsius to preserve all the fresh fruit of the Garnacha.
Ageing: 30% of the Garnacha is aged 3 months in barrel

TASTING NOTES
Intense cherry red colour. Typical Garnacha with aromas of ripe red fruit,
prunes, figs and some black pepper and minerality.

The pairing suggestion - lamb stew, carrots, courgettes and a couple of black olives

Graciano is one of Spain’s best kept wine secrets - a red grape with thick skins that is a tricky customer to grow, which means there’s precious little of it about, even in the vineyards of the Rioja, where it is one of the traditional ingredients in the wine of the same name.

This is a dark Spanish beauty with soft fruit flavours, medium body and fresh, long finish.