2020 Alfredo Maestro 'El Marciano'

- Alfredo Maestro -'EL MARCIANO'We love when we can take a strong position on the things we love and the wines and people we care for in this market. Jose Pastor is importing some of the most soulful wines we know and from areas in Spain that challenge convention and terroir. This is one of those wines! Please don't hesitate to grab some of this wonderful bottling. It's once a year that we get to offer this amazing wine. Not to be missed!

The Martian's have landed! The wines of Alfredo Maestro have inspired us and lifted our spirits each time the wines arrive in the market. Which is becoming as likely these days as seeing a UFO. Well we saw it and grabbed the entirety of the allocation of El Marciano. This is certainly one of the most creative labels in the wine world, but the wine orbits us into into the incredible world of Alfredo Maestro. This is the label that put the wines of Alfredo Maestro on the map! Upon release, this wine was known all over the world. We rarely see this bottling, but we have supported all the other cuvées from Alfredo: the Lovamor & El Rey Glam are 2 of the house favorites.

This label is an expression of Sierra de Gredos, in particular, the village of Navarredondilla. Sitting on top of a plateau at 1,200 meters above sea level, the terroir of this part of the village is extreme plants growing in the middle of the rock. It is a very pretty area. The area is famous because it is a hot spot for viewing UFOs.Alfredo Maestro tends 5 acres organically and – astonishingly for the Duero - he does not use sulfur in the wine-making process. This is pure energy and expression of place.

These wines are beautifully simple and real. El Marciano exudes a sense of place, with energy, beautiful focus on the fruit, and signature limestone minerality of the Duero.He has farmed this plot organically since the beginning, He wanted to work in the winery the way he did in the vineyard, where he had always had a passion for organic viticulture. In his words - "to better tell the story of the land." All of the grapes are estate grown. After de-stemming, the wines are fermented in stainless-steel tanks without temperature control. The wines are racked and aged in un-toasted French oak barrels.

In Ribera del Duero, there are 3 soil types. In the bottom of the valley, the soil is alluvial. The wines from this soil are in reality more elegant, finer, with more acidity. In the hills the soil is clay. The clay gives wines good aging potential, more structure, more muscle, and the combination with the bottom, alluvial soil and the clay gives a typical wine from Ribera del Duero.And finally, in the top of the valley, the soil usually is limestone, calcareous. Limestone gives wines with high acidity because the top of the valley has 1,000 meters of altitude and the acidity is very generous. The color is high. It is difficult to cultivate but the wines are remarkably delicious and we were shocked by the authenticity of this cuvée.