Ca' di Mat

Ca' di Mat - "House of Fools" in Piedmontese dialect - is the Sierra de Gredos project of Curro Bareño and Jesús Olivares (the duo behind Fedellos do Couto and Peixes in Galicia, since merged into simply Fedellos), together with Paolo Armando and Victoria Serrano, whose family owns the farm. Founded in 2017 in San Martín de Valdeiglesias, on the eastern foothills of Gredos.

20 hectares of farmland at 600-850 metres, planted with 30-to-80-year-old vines on decomposed granite - three types 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. 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, whole-cluster, one year in concrete/oak), Valautín Albillo Real (whole-bunch direct press, eight months in French oak), Fuente de los Huertos (single-parcel Garnacha, whole-bunch, twelve months aging), 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 - Gredos Garnacha at its most transparent.