Viñas Serranas is a new-ish (2017) collaboration of four Spanish friends in the Sierra de Salamanca, west of Madrid and near the border with Portugal. It’s an area of rugged hills and granite and schist soils, similar to Beaujolais in France. The secret weapon here is the indigenous grape variety rufete, which was historically used in making Port but is equally suited to making lighter, fresher red wines. This wine is from a single centenarian vineyard called Fuente Grulla, farmed organically by winegrower Tomás Hernández (his name is on the front label!). The wine ferments naturally with a fairly high percentage of whole clusters (a common technique in Beaujolais) and then ages for 15 months in used 300 liter French oak barrels. The nose has smoky, even brooding fruit, but in the mouth the wine is all generous exuberance, with suppleness and sophistication. It’s only 13% alcohol. Try it with split pea and smoked ham soup or baba ganoush.
