Comando G 'Garcia-Alix' 2020

Citing the world’s greatest Grenache as their inspiration, Comando G produce some of Spain’s most sought-after and finessed vino from old vineyards high up in the Gredos Mountains west of Madrid.

Launched in 2008 by university friends Dani Gomez Jiménez-Landi and Fernando García (alongside Marc Isart, who had to step away from the project in 2012), Comando G’s seductive and long-lived wines demonstrate this ‘forgotten’ region’s potential beyond its reputation for bulk-wine in the 1970s.

In collaboration with Matador – a publication which brings together the worlds of wine and art alongside a limited-edition cuvée made by a star producer – the winemaking trio have reunited for one time only to create ‘García-Alix’ for the magazine’s special 10th edition.

In contrast with their usual single-parcel bottlings, Comando G have this time blended an assortment of their best plots: ‘Los Canchones’ in Villanueva de Ávila (from Landi and Fernando García) with ‘El Reventón’ in Cebreros (from Isart and Telmo García).

‘García-Alix’ uses fully destemmed fruit, which is fermented and aged in separate foudres and barrels, before being blended in concrete tanks. Slightly richer, but no less enchanting in youth than Comando G’s other Garnachas, it shows deep fruit layers alongside floral and herbal notes and granitic minerality.

The boys from Gredos have done it again: this is yet another first-rate Garnacha. Just 350 cases were made. 

94 Points, Wine Advocate