Laughing all the way to the Barranco

Barranco Oscuro is located near the village of Cádiar in the Sierra de la Contraviesa, located in the heart of the beautiful Alpujarra mountain range, South-East Andalucía, in Southern Spain.  The city of Granada is 100km away, Almería 90km.

These are some of the highest vineyards in the world, certainly the highest in mainland Europe, up to 1,400m. The views here are unique, one can see the sea (and Africa!) as well as the Iberian peninsula’s highest mountain range, the Sierra Nevada, and its highest mountain, the Mulhacén.

The region is classified as Vino de la Tierra “Contraviesa-Alpujarra” in Granada province.

Manuel Valenzuela was the first to establish vineyards at these heights. In 1980 he bought a farmhouse and 15 hectares of almond groves and virgin land and proceeded to plant his first vines. Growers had previously been reluctant to go so high, resigning themselves to growing grapes for distillation or making rough “country” wines near the coast.

After travelling through winemaking regions in Europe and working in various French wineries, Manuel brought a fresh approach to vine growing in the Alpujarras. He brought in noble French varieties but also revived the rare white Vigiriega variety, which only exists in Granada and the Canary Islands. New pruning and training techniques baffled the local vignerons. And his most revolutionary innovation was the use of organic methods. Now the locals knew he was totally mad.

In 1984 Manuel released his first bottled wines and gained many listings in Granada’s best restaurants. More recently he has inspired young winemakers in the region to follow his natural methods such as Cauzon and Naranjuez.

Altogether he has 12 hectares planted with 20 different varieties in 70 vineyard parcels. Tempranillo is the most widely planted variety. All viticulture is totally natural with no use of herbicides, pesticides or synthetic fertilisers. Organic composts are used.  The friable soils are a mix of schist, slate and clay.

Tres Uvas comprises Vigiriega, Vermentino and Viognier in equal parts. The two parcels of Vigiriega are on the schist soils of the Cerro Las Monjas vineyard planted as bush vines between 1,340 and 1,360 metres altitude. The yields are very low, being less than 1kg per vine. The Vermentino and Viognier come from the Hoyo and Cerro de las Gayumba vineyards, between 1,280m and 1,300m altitude on a mixture of schist and clay soils.

Each variety is harvested separately only at peak maturation. Grapes are destemmed and lightly pressed. Fermentation then takes place in large oak vats using only wild yeasts and no temperature control. Malolactic fermentation takes place naturally. Sulphur is only used in extreme cases but usually not employed at all, not even at bottling. The wines are not fined or filtered. Each variety is aged separately in Slovenian oak barrels for 8 months after which equal parts of the three varieties are blended and aged in tank for a further sixteen months.

The wine’s rich golden colour seems to hold the light and hints at pelagic depths. The complex nose contributes to this impression being floral with ripe fruits, sweet spices, baked apple, medlar, yellow plum and some sherry notes. On decanting, the wine develops fresher citrus character. On the palate Tres Uvas is full bodied but not heavy, with ripe, almost bruised apple fruit, pearskin, hot ginger beer, malt, liquorice and intriguing curry spice (fenugreek and mustard seed). The finish is spectacular with amontillado sherry mixed with lemon citrus and concentrated mineral salts – the manages to be dry, savoury, warm, spicy and unbelievably moreish.