2008 Daniel Gomez Jimenez-landi ‘Cantos Del Diablo’, Mentrida

Cantos del Diablo (Songs of the Devil) is a single vineyard planted on pure granite at 900 metres altitude near the town of San Vincente. Of Dani’s three top ‘Cru’s’ Cantos is the only one in the Val de Tietar, on the southern sub-zone of the Gredos, facing slightly to the north. In wine terms this translates into power and structure and an overriding feeling of Moroccan spice, matched fittingly with the sweet sour tang of pomegranate. It’s often the most withdrawn of the three single vineyards at first release, but with time and patience in the glass and in the cellar it begins to show a heady array of fruits nestled amongst that intense structure. All that being said, this is still within the frame of Daniel Landi’s light touch and the Sierra de Gredos’ inherent elegance; Dani’s wines follow subtle shifts of expression between vineyards much like shifting between top cru’s in Barolo, so while it might be the most powerful and structured of the three, it’s still among the most elegance and refined examples of Grenache on the planet.