Don’t sleep on Malaga. Maybe this Southern Spanish region hasn’t always been on the tip of the tongue for most sommeliers, but that is the magic of the wine industry; any region can have its spotlight at any moment. And in the Sierras de Malaga, the innovative and rule-breaking pioneers are the Vinedos Verticales. Juan Munoz and Vincente Inat are redefining what it means to be a winemaker in Malaga, making wines of incredible complexity while paying homage to their local varieties and terroir.

Vinedos Verticales

Viñedos Verticales is a dream come true of Juan Muñoz, a third-generation winegrower and winemaker in the region, and Vicente Inat, an enologist with experience in several wine-growing areas. In 2015, the two friends and their families began on this adventure with the idea of ​​crafting wines that express the singular character of the land where they were born.

The winery is located in Moclinejo, a small town in Axarquía (Málaga), near the Mediterranean Sea. Here, ancient vineyards grow on vertigo-inducing, steep slopes of schists, phyllites, and slate soils. The queen of the local varieties is the Muscat of Alexandria, and the Vinedos also grow other local, indigenous varieties, such as Pero Ximén, Doradilla, Garnacha, and the incredibly rare Romé.

Viticulture is still very traditional in Axarquilla and is heroic due to the steep rocky hillsides, which create an inseparable link between the land, the vineyards, and the people harvesting these vineyards.

Vinedos Verticales' philosophy is to work respectfully with the environment in the vineyard and winery. This entails regenerative viticulture and ancestral winemaking, creating distinct wines with little modern influence.

For vinification, Juan and Vicente utilize concrete vats, steel tanks, wooden barrels, and large oak casks that are more than 100 years old.

This unique terroir, the age of the vineyards, and the nature of its people make Axarquía a unique viticultural marvel. Vinedos Verticales focuses on small lot production to ensure the highest quality wines that balance elegance, minerality, and the distinct flavor characteristics of the Mediterranean while maintaining bright acidity through higher elevation sites.

Somewhat surprisingly to many of us, half of the fraternal team behind the Bernard Moreau wines split in 2020 to create his own label:Benoit Moreau, the man behind the vineyard work for so many years. He's got half of the greatest vineyards in a one of the most superb collection of Chassagne and Saint-Aubin that exist today, and starting in 2021, 4 superb bottlings of Beaujolais from his newest purchase.

L'Arlesienne

After 22 years of making wine together the two Moreau brothers set to dividing the land they inherited from their father, a splendid portfolio of Premier Crus in Chassagne and Saint-Aubin of which Benoit now claims 4 hectares.  His first vintage in 2020 consisted of entirely purchased grapes while the estate was settled, but even those first wines showed an immense talent emerging.

In 2021, Benoit also purchased an additional 1.7 hectares in Beaujolais, split between Beaujolais Villages and the famed crus of Chiroubles and Morgon. Those wines are bottled under the L'Arlésienne label, crafted much like Benoit treats his Chassagne-Montrachet Rouge wines: at least partial whole clusters allowed to ferment with ambient yeasts in stainless, amphorae or demi-muid - the one difference being the tank, whereas his Chassagne wines are aged in Burgundy barrels, some portion of which will be new oak, vintage-dependent. 

In case we weren't entirely clear, our love for these wines is immense, as they are beautifully textured, precise wines unburdened by much outside influence such as oaky flavors or huge amounts of reduction; just profoundly energetic, memorable and sure to be long-lived. 

The secret is still fairly hidden, but the wines from Elio Sandri are special gems. Located in Monforte, the estate has been making some of the tastiest wines in Barolo for decades.All organic farming, but not labeled. Hands off in the winery, but doesn't boast about it. The wines are humble, pure and exactly what you want if Bartolo, Burlotto and Giacosa have become unobtainable. I promise, you will remember when these were "affordable" and should have bought more:) We are very fortunate to have picked up the following arriving in the Spring. CIMAN is a rare cuvée with the Nebbiolo aged in Cement!

Elio Sandri

You know part of the story, as it is rote for so many of today's producers: the Sandri family has grown grapes in Monforte d'Alba, within clear view of the Swiss Alps, since the 1800s; for the entirety of this time, however, the grapes were sold off to other wineries, a simpler time. Then came Elio. 

Yes, the all-consuming world of grape-growing begat the desire to make wine from his family's produce, which he did more than two decades ago, his first production a mere 2000 cases. 

Fast forward a bit, through the boom of bombastic, dense Barolos and Super Tuscans, and Elio remains in the group with a select few - including the Mascarellos, Altares and Canonicas of the region who never ltered their style; in fact, he is so intent on limiting the impact he has on the wines that he will wait patiently for his wines to declare themselves ready (by taste) to be released, routinely much longer than any other winery of the region would dream of holding wines back from the market. 

His cold cellars preserve the freshness of his wines as they develop slowly through fermentations and subsequent elevage, following their own path having been harvested from Elio's plots, which are situated on cooler, East-facing slopes of Perno. Inter-planted with herbs and other cover crops, some have claimed they find an extra savory spice in the Sandri wines, but we leave that to the drinker to determine. He will, however, be sure that you taste the absolute purity in the wines, as the clusters are reduced to one per shoot, and the smaller clusters preferred - this concentrates the intensity in the grape, even though ti drastically reduces yields; quality over quantity is not a philosophy but rather an edict.

Most wines are fermented in stainless steel, then will spend time in concrete before being transferred to traditional wooden botti; no new ok will be used whatsoever.