Amigos del Tiempo El Morisco Cebreros Tinto 2019

The 2019 El Morisco is from the zone of that name and feels slightly riper than its sibling from that year. It has notes of wild berries, flowers and herbs, and it's juicy and showy, quite aromatic and expressive. It's medium-bodied and has very fine, grainy tannins and the tastiness from the granite soils.

Amigos Del Tiempo is a project born in the tiny, picturesque village of Navarrevisca which is nestled high up in the Gredos mountains of Spain. The goal of this tiny winery is to craft micro cuvées from ancient vines of Garnacha that highlight the truly special and unique terroir that this rugged, mountainous terrain has to offer. And that is…fine, beautiful, high-toned and nuanced wines that are on the elegant, Pinot Noir end of this chameleon-like varietal in terms of expression.

To this end, the project's viticulture and vinification is under the direction of one of Spain's most talented and visionary winemakers, Raul Perez. The heart and soul of the project is a prized parcel called Piedra Cachada which is located at just over 1100 meters in elevation, on pure granite, with bush pruned vines of Garnacha over 100 years old. Piedra Cachada, or "broken stones" gets its name from the bevy of large boulders strewn through the vineyard that fractured and tumbled down from the mountains above many centuries ago. Their second wine, El Morisco, comes from several parcels just outside of Navarrevisca in Villanueva de Avila at an elevation just a touch below Piedra Cachada. The vines for El Morisco are also 100+ years old and bush pruned Garnacha.

The inaugural vintage for Amigos del Tiempo was 2019. Given that these ancient vines do not produce much fruit, they only produced 800 bottles of each wine in this vintage.