The Sierra de Gredos, if you have not been, should be on everyone’s tick list. Believe the hype, this is wild bear and wolf country of staggering mountainous beauty that has a colour palate all of its own. I rarely want to move anywhere, but I want to move here. The vineyards for Gaznata are located around the town of El Barraco which is up stream of the more famous wines of Jiminez Landi in the Madrid section (we are only an hour away from the capital here). This was an old coop where 50 euro cents still buys you a litre of drink but thanks to Daniel Ramos, a young dynamic wine maker with an Australian accent but local roots, the coop is now turning itself around and producing a limited selection of the oldest vineyards in a range of wines that are startling good value. This is all about Garnacha, of course, and the vines are in most cases a century old and planted between 600 and 1000 metres in parcelated spots ranging from granite to sandy loam. The Gaznata Joven is a simple fun Garnacha for early drinking.

The Crianza is from a single vineyard site 850 metres above sea level and just over 1 ha in size. The wine is fermented and aged in 600 litre French oak barrels for 18 months. It is brooding, finessed and steeped in black olives and red fruit, and has the typical lightness of touch associated with this amazing mountain terroir.