Agricola de Vinos La Portera

Javier del Blanco, Francisco Santiso and Jorge Navascues are three of Spain’s most talented young winemakers, with Jorge, the winemaker at Contino, being described as a “genius” on jancisrobinson.com. Having spent years managing and running other wineries, they began this project in 2017 with a mall parcel of vines in Utiel Requena and swiftly added two more in Carinena in Aragon. Here, in the village of Almonacid del Sierra the old bush vines were spared mechanisation thanks to the rough, uneven terrain. At 650 metres, these parcels are also among the coolest areas of Carinena, as Jorge says, “Garnacha here is fresher rather than riper, with a floral, spicy character very far from jamminess”. This suits the trio’s philosophy well as they aim to make wines of freshness, delicacy and elegance, in contrast to the bolder styles favoured by many of their neighbours.