Winemaker Notes
'El Marciano' is made from old-vine Garnacha grown in Navarredondilla, a village
located west of Madrid in the Sierra de Gredos mountains. 'El Marciano' is an ethereal wine with powerful acidity from the old vines and diurnal shift in temperature, red and black fruit, and notes of black pepper. The elegant meaty notes make this a great wine to pair with roast pork. The label is a nod to the many UFO sightings in this mountainous region, and the man is a cartoon of Alfredo Maestro himself.
Spanish red wine is known for being bold, heady, rustic and age-worthy, Spain is truly a one-of-a-kind wine-producing nation. A great majority of the country is hot, arid and drought-ridden, and since irrigation has only been recently introduced and (controversially) accepted, viticulture has sustained—and flourished—only through a great understanding of Spain’s particular conditions. Large spacing between vines allows each enough resources to survive and as a result, the country has the most acreage under vine compared to any other country, but is usually third in production.
Of the Spanish red wines, the most planted and respected grape variety is Tempranillo, the star of Spain’s Rioja and Ribera del Duero regions. Priorat specializes in bold red blends, Jumilla has gained global recognition for its single varietal Monastrell and Utiel-Requena has garnered recent attention for its reds made of Bobal.