Producer Focus Uva de Vida

Uva de Vida, Graciano and Tempranillo 2018

Castilla La Mancha, to the South West of Madrid is in the very heart of Spain. The area has traditionally been known for producing vast quantities of table wine not low intervention wine. Almost half of all Spanish grapes are grown here. Most vineyards lie at 500-700 m on sandy, calcareous and clayey soils. Only grapes that can withstand the extreme temperature (40ºC to 12ºC) and dry conditions thrive here. For whites this is principally Airen and for reds it’s the usual dark skinned varietals. The region itself has 9 DO’s which have taken advantage of new technology to greatly improve the quality and freshness of the wines.

Uva de Vida (“The Grape of Life”), est. 2012 , is the vision of wife and husband team Carmen Lopez Delgado and Luiz Ruiz Martin. Based in Santa Olalla, 50km west of Toledo.Carmen makes half a dozen low intervention wines on their 9 hectare property. The red wines are made from Graciano, an uncommon variety in the region. They follow strict natural and biodynamic processes, both in the vineyard and in the winery. There’s no filtering, clarifying or adding of sulphates at any point. Through invigorating the life of the soil, the use of solar energy & no intervention in the wine making they are creating structured, elegant, fresh and pure wines. The winery is a member of the tiny prestigious biodynamic association “La Renaissance des Appellations”.