Carlos Sánchez Buradòn Las Plegarias 2022

Las Plegarias is a solo project from Carlos Sánchez, a former teacher turned grower who came to wine through the granite hills of the Sierra de Gredos before working in Rioja. The grape is Garnacha, worked biodynamically and organically, with the fruit picked from cooler, higher sites where the variety keeps its perfume and acidity rather than tipping into jam. Garnacha is thin skinned and oxidative, so the winemaking here is deliberately restrained: a short passage of roughly one month split between barrel and large foudre, which lets the wine settle and round out without picking up obvious oak or losing its lift. That light touch is the point. The colour is pale and bright, the nose full of fresh red fruit, cherry and wild strawberry, red currant, a note of white flowers and a savoury edge of dried herbs. The palate is light bodied and juicy, the tannins soft, the acidity fresh, and the finish clean and gently earthy. It is a red made for drinking young and can take a light chill. Serve at 14 to 15 degrees. Good with roast chicken, pork and mushroom dishes.