The story of the Pardilla grape is a common one among native grape varieties in Spain. Up until about 50 years ago it was widely planted in southeastern Spain around the town of Cuenca. But as the country began opening up to international trade after the death of the dictator in 1975, Pardilla was ripped up in favor of more popular Spanish varieties like Tempranillo and Bobal.

Fast forward to the early 2000s when international grapes started coming into vogue and those Tempranillo vines were replaced by the world-dominating Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. It has only been in the past few years that winemakers in the region have started recovering and replanting the region’s native varieties like Bobal and Pardilla. These are the two grapes that Bodega Las Calzadas works with exclusively as they look to recover the ancient ways of winemaking that once thrived in this region.

This is one of only a handful of monovarietal Pardilla wines on the market. The grapes come partially from newer vines that the winemaker, Daniel, and his family have grafted by hand using cuttings from his old vines. About 15% of the grapes are grown by old farmers in the Pozoamargo area and come from old vines that are scattered among Bobal vineyards. All of the grapes are organic certified and hand harvested.

Once in the winery, the grapes are destemmed and deseeded. They are left in contact with their skins for 1 night in stainless steel tanks. Daniel then uses a manual press to separate away the skins before returning the juice to stainless steel for 2-3 days. Here the wine spontaneously ferments with native yeasts. About halfway through alcoholic fermentation, Daniel moves the wine into 130-year-old clay amphora where it is left to finish fermenting and rest on its lees for 4 months.