Ca' di Mat

Ca' di Mat - "House of Fools" in Piedmontese dialect, a nod to Paolo Armando's roots in the Barolo-Langhe - was founded by Paolo and his wife Victoria Serrano in 2011 to preserve vineyards Victoria had inherited from her grandfather in San Martín de Valdeiglesias, on the eastern foothills of Sierra de Gredos. They brought in Curro Bareño and Jesús Olivares (the duo behind Fedellos do Couto and the former Peixes label, now folded back into Fedellos) as winemaking partners. The first commercial vintage was released in 2017.

20 hectares across some forty-five small plots (part family-owned, part leased) at 600-850 metres, planted with 30-to-80-year-old vines on decomposed granite - three variations of it: pink (high feldspar), white (high quartz, more porous), and raw red granite. Each soil marks a different cuvée. The grapes are Garnacha and Albillo Real, with some Moscatel, Garnacha Blanca, and Cariñena. Continental climate, 600mm rainfall, and the altitude gives freshness that most of central Spain never sees. Certified organic, certified vegan.

The winemaking is consistent with what they do in Galicia: spontaneous fermentation on indigenous yeasts, cold smooth macerations, foot-trodden grapes, hand-separated must from skins and stems, basket pressing. Some cuvées see up to ninety days of maceration - long for Garnacha, but the extraction stays light. Aging splits between concrete and used French oak barrels on lees.

Key cuvées: Valautín Garnacha (village blend, partial whole-bunch, one year in concrete/oak), Valautín Albillo Real (whole-bunch direct press, eight to twelve months in French oak depending on vintage), Fuente de los Huertos (single-parcel Garnacha at 800 m, sixty-day whole-bunch maceration, twelve months in used French oak), and Los Peros in both tinto and blanco (the oldest vines, eighty years, the most concentrated expression of the granite). The wines are subtly aromatic and deceptively light despite the long macerations.