Señora de las Alturas 2018 | Viña Zorzal | Magnum (1,5L)

Antonio Sanz had been running the Malón de Echaide cooperative in Cascante when he founded Vinícola Corellana in 1989. His three sons took over in 2007 with the roles divided — Iñaki running the winery, Mikel in the vineyard, Xabi on the commercial side — and started out with a graciano from that same vintage.

The turn came later, when Rafael Regadera showed them what was in the old garnacha of the Ribera Baja. The house has narrowed towards those parcels ever since: around three hundred and fifty thousand bottles today, close to 80% of it exported, and some wines that do not reach a thousand.

They work fifty-two hectares and vinify them apart, because each site argues something different. Pontigos, in Fitero, is pre-phylloxera garnacha on stony soils that have never been tilled. Corral de los Altos sits on top of a plateau, exposed to the cierzo. Lerga, at 615 metres, gets more rain than Fitero. Las Roscas is above 500 metres on sandstone, limestone and clay.

Señora de las Alturas comes from a parcel of pre-phylloxera vines on the banks of the river Alhama, on gravel with limestone and clay: garnacha alone, fermented with indigenous yeasts in open 500-litre barrels and aged twelve months in the same format.

Malayeto is its opposite in age and its like in approach: a little over two hectares of thirty-five-year-old vines at 520 metres, on stony soil, facing the Moncayo. Early picking, spontaneous fermentation in 3,500-litre vats, minimal extraction and nine months in second-fill French oak. The first vintage was 2013.