Discover the natural wines of Spain on a trip to this stunning region

The air was thick with the smell of yeast and morning dew. Julien Ben Hamou Lopez, 38-year-old vintner behind Bodegas Coruña del CondeA family-owned estate in northern Spain led us through a dark tunnel filled with dusty, unlabeled bottles of natural wines. Lopez told our group of nine how the ancient Romans used tunnels as escape routes from invaders, then grabbed some mysterious bottles, wiped away the condensation, and led us out into the sunlight to taste them. Went.

This was the first of many winery tours organized by Selection de la VinaA boutique importer started in Brooklyn that specializes in organic and low-intervention wines from the Iberian Peninsula. Founded by Alvaro de la Viña, an affable Spanish entrepreneur, and his wife, the company began leading trips for connoisseurs to meet some of Spain’s top natural winter experts.

In the spring, I joined a group of American wine sellers and sommeliers on a week-long tour of the Castilla y León region, about 90 minutes north. madridWhile the region is known for its big-box wineries and bold Tempranillo, we’ll focus on winemakers who avoid using industrial machines, pesticides, added sugars or yeast. “Wine is not as glamorous as people think,” said de la Viña, who leads the tour himself. “Wine is about history and people.”

We held an introductory dinner la cannibal, A lively restaurant in the Lavapiés neighborhood of Madrid that serves natural wines on tap. The next morning we got into a gray Volkswagen van and headed northwest Castilla Termal Monasterio de Valbuena, A wellness resort housed in a 12th-century monastery in the heart of Ribera del Duero, a prized wine district of the region.

After a day relaxing at the spa, we headed an hour east to Lopez’s 20-acre vineyard, Bodegas Coruña del Conde, named for the ancient village in which it is located. They offered us samples of their cheekily named wines, including “I’m Natural Don’t Panic” and “BC/DC,” straight from the fermentation tanks. Considering that the wines were made from Tempranillo grapes, their flavor was surprisingly light and refreshing.

We then made our way to a stone dining room carved into the hill, where, in a massive hearth, Lopez lit a fire with cut vines and then roasted a suckling lamb on a metal grate. As we helped ourselves to a spread of soft sheep’s milk cheeses, chorizo ​​and spicy summer sausages, he served a generous selection of bold vintages, including a cloudy white made from Arran grapes. As I gazed out at the views from the hilltop, belly full, sipping the last sip of my unfiltered red, I was amazed at how much natural winemaking has seen in Spain since its early days as a cult hobby among wine geeks. Progress was made.

On the third day, we went Bodegas BigardoAn experimental winery in the town of Toro was started in 2016 by Kiko Calvo, who bills himself as a winegrower. While this region, also called Toro (meaning bull), is known for its face-punching reds, Calvo takes a softer approach, producing wines with more delicate structure and balance. Is.

After giving us a tour of the 60-acre vineyard, Calvo and his sister took us to a picnic table along the Douro River and treated us to a lunch of rice and braised bull tail cooked with red cod Served. One bottle, 2020 Palazzo, was made from grapes from 100-year-old Tinta de Toro vines growing on his property. Calvo’s affection for the native grapes and the city is obvious. “I love toro,” she said while tasting her creation.

There were still more feasts to be had. The next day we climbed the Gredos mountain range to a small organic organization that specializes in old Garnacha vines planted on steep slopes and at high altitudes. This vineyard is named after its Australian-born owner Daniel Ramos Located 2,700 feet above sea level, protecting the grapes from the hot, dry climate. ​Unlike the manicured vines of traditional wineries, these plants were untamed, growing in fields of wild flowers and grass.

For lunch, we headed to a small cinder-block warehouse in the town of Tiemplo. There we met Pepi, Ramos’s wife and business partner, stirring a pan of potatoes with pork and paprika over a blazing fire. Ramos threw thick steaks on the grill while we picked up vinegar-soaked anchovies and kicked around a soccer ball with his young son. Ramos turned out a dozen bottles of Garnacha wine, including the 2018 vintage, for which the grapes were hand-harvested, spontaneously fermented with airborne yeast, and aged in clay amphorae for about a year. Was.

Spaniards have a word for those moments when after-meal conversation flows like wine and there’s nothing to do: sobremesaAnd this is exactly what Spanish food should be. Our group stopped beyond the point of saturation to taste more vintages, which Ramos does not sell to the public like Moscatel. Belly-nut. “I made 100 bottles but drank 50,” he said, laughing.

our last wine soaked sobremesa was on microbio wineAn innovative winery in the city of Neiva that uses clay jugs and hand-made glass bottles to age its low-intervention wines. We opened some sparkling wines made from the Verdejo grape and ventured into an 11th-century cellar-like cellar. The walls were caked with natural mold and yeast, which, we were told, is mixed into the wine soil. After a heavenly lunch of roasted pork leg with grainy mustard, we toured the 5,000-bottle collection of natural wines assembled by owner Ismail Gozalo.

As I sat down to the last sip of one of Microbio’s verdejos, made from grapes from 280-year-old vines growing on the estate, I was struck by the contrast. I was sitting on a plastic chair in a warehouse, surrounded by pallets and barrels. My shoes were caked with dust from walking in the vineyards. Yet in just one week I tasted some of the most wonderful wine and food I have experienced in six years of living in Spain. De la Vina was right: natural wine is not always glamorous, but in Castilla y León, it is often extraordinary.

seven day trips with Selection de la Vina From $4,700, all-inclusive.

A version of this story was first published in the December 2024 issue of Travel + Vacation Under the heading “By the Glass.”,