El Camino
The Camino has become a unique, rich experience. Even though I was familiar with most of the regions, it was still a bit of a kick to work in a foreign environment. On top of that, I never had a lot of opportunities to work with white Garnacha in Calatayud.
It started as a tour, first local, in the village and at the neighbours, but then moving on to Catalunya and across the French Catalan border all the way to Béziers! And, while we were touring, we decided that Madrid should be part of the trip and that we couldn’t ignore the black Garnacha Tintorera from Manchuela.
Soon I understood that Mark provided me with a teaser, he knew that this first round would turn out to be nothing but a single stage...
I was extremely grateful that the Garnacha trail commenced here in Aragon, which is the cradle of this grape variety. Full of confidence, I immediately snapped out of my twenty-year-old comfort zone, because this was no ordinary feat. This was about firing on all cylinders, looking beyond the safe haven of Calatayud and admitting that it could just as well be one ingredient that was part of a much bigger whole. This is how I came up with the idea of blending the three completely different terroirs of Aragon in one single La Cuna (the cradle) cuvée: Calatayud, Borja and Cariñena.