Bodegas Gratias, Got, Manchuela, Spain, 2019

Producer Profile

When Ana and Iván got together for a party with some oenologist friends in 2007, they decided to make some wine and put it in a barrel.

The results of this first vintage were astonishing and so Bodegas Gratias was born. After the success of the first vintage, they realised they had a chance to make a difference. In a region with a declining wine industry, Ana and Iván are on a mission to protect old vineyards of Bobal, Tardana and other local varieties, championing the vinous heritage of the area. They champion Manchuela as a region capable of producing exciting and relevant wines that draw on the best of tradition and indigenous varieties, yet with a spin that is undeniably looking to the future. These wines are artisanal and as natural as they come, being organically grown, fermented with natural occurring yeasts and minute sulphur additions, if any.

Viticulture

Sustainable agriculture based on respect and common sense. The fruit came from the vineyard where everything began for Bodegas Gratias. A holistic place that made them realise that magnificient wines can me made with old bobal grapes. Deep red and strong soils.

Winemaking

Artisanal and respectful winemaking. Grapes fermented in small tank with hand pigeage. After alcoholic fermentation is finished, the wine rests in 300 litre old tinaja (anfora) and some smaller new tinaja of 200 to 400 litres in size.

Oak Ageing

No oak ageing

Tasting Note

Garnet red with purple hues. Fruity on the nose, red berries and an earthy palate. Creamy, fruity and a fresh mouthfeel.

Food Matching

A wine to enjoy with good friends but also with roasted vegetables or cheeses.

Awards

Jancis Robinson 16.5 Points
Absolutely crackling like bonfire night with black pepper and life and shooting stars. Like a liquid Saburo Murakami black-ink explosion. Very definitely on the natural-wine spectrum but with fantastic energy and precision and zigzag laces of liquorice and black cardamom. Bristling with tiny, short, wire-brush tannins that feel like a hot-spa exfoliation. I find myself emerging from this wine with a kind of rawness, zinging with new life. Cleansing but wild; just (only just) on the right side of feral. Makes me ravenously hungry! Where's the charcuterie?! 16.5 Points, TC, August 2022.