As his five year-old daughter flitted about, the occasional smile crept onto the lips of Carlos Sanchez, our first Rioja producer in the Thatcher’s Imports portfolio. Keep that in mind - that we said ‘Rioja’ - for later. Sometimes the camera’s lens would tilt, swivel or be otherwise bothered, but in a way that brought joy to his face, and a lightness to the conversation that could otherwise potentially contain mere data points. Observing this scene, absorbing both his love for his daughter and his craft, Carlos’ purpose on this planet, within his ecosystem, became clear: for a man who thought he’d wanted to teach prior to his winemaking career, he is paying forward all he’s learned, to his own generation and the next - a teacher, spreading his non-dogmatic doctrine to any who care to understand.

Carlos Sanchez went to university with the intent on becoming a teacher, and post-graduation taught for two years near Madrid. With wine flowing throughout the city and nearby, Carlos - possessing an inquisitive and curious mind - decided not just to drink more of the wines he found interesting, but to travel to vineyards and wineries in his spare time. What started as a hobby piqued his intellect, and the trips became more frequent, and the study of wine more consuming. Soon, he decided to study enology in Madrid - “As a hobby,” Carlos says, smiling. He may have known his path before being ready to accept it.

“The people of my village tell me, I make the wines of Rioja, but in the style of Gredos,” Carlos quips, stationed in Labastida, Rioja, not far from half of his small vineyard plots. The love affair with Rioja began in the glass, but once he connected with Javier Garcia (then of Jimenez-Landi, now of 4 Monos), Carlos began to see all of Spain through a new prism: the Sierra de Gredos.

You see, in Gredos, with so much stripped away from the earth, the importance of each vine and each vineyard’s health is paramount. Carlos began to understand the link between the soil’s health and the resulting health - and quality - of each vineyard’s wine. While a region like Rioja could at times feel homogenous, these phenomenal mountain vineyards gave off such transparency, so naked excepting the intrinsic value of the who, what, where and when. In 2014, Javier guided Carlos’ hand through his first 2 barrels of wine from Gredos, and the inspiration for Carlos deepened.

From 2015 through 2018, when the first “Carlos Sanchez” wines were released, Javier Garcia, Ignacio Jimenez and Carlos partnered to create wines in Rioja, a project which Carlos himself would shepherd. Carlos had long adored the wines of Rioja for their grace, their ability to age like any of the world’s greatest wines, but seeing the then-widespread use of chemicals, along with the blending & small-barrel aging that was so common historically in the region, this brought Carlos’ training into the picture. Cries of, “You have no idea how to work in the vineyard” echoed in his ears while he infused his biodynamic methods into the newly-acquired vineyard plots. Shouts from a neighbor saying, “You can’t produce wines like that” had to be repeatedly shaken off as he installed cover crops, worked by hand and separated each plot into its own tank. He had witnessed just how great a wine can be when each vineyard, each “landscape,” as he calls it, is allowed to express its own personality.

As he began to garner more positive local acclaim, the Rioja DO rules eased simultaneously, allowing Carlos to still label his wines as Rioja even though he’s not using the region’s preferred 225-liter barrels, or even caring to utilize the aging indicators - Crianza, Riserva, et cetera. “It’s not important for me,” Carlos claims; “I don’t have rules, the wines don’t have rules - it depends on each vintage [how the wine is aged]. Also, I have ZERO 225-liter barrels!”

After a laugh at the last sentence, Carlos also admits his pleasure at Rioja’s ability to include the village and other annotations to the Rioja labels that, years ago, would not have been possible. He mentions that the heads of the Rioja DO have admitted that they need more projects like his, improving the reputation of Rioja and its strength in the market. As an addendum to this, Carlos reminds us, “The plot, the vineyard, the oak barrels, this is more important than the grape. With this philosophy, you need time.” Time, he means, to get to actually know the wines.

Think about that: this is a man so far from the idea of wine marketing that he would rather not include “Rioja” on a label and be misunderstood. Time means vintage after vintage, the drinkers becoming familiar with his own style, his own palate - indeed, a man within Rioja, but with the heart and style of Gredos.

VITICULTURE & VINIFICATION

Carlos owns & farms plots in both Labastida and San Vicente, chosen by him based on their proximity to the mountains and with a great plot of what top winemakers seek: limestone. Purchasing vineyards from small wineries or growers who had previously sold to the local co-op, he amassed a fine range of vines between 20-80 years old. All bush vines - loosely gobelet-style - are now tended according to biodynamic principles, starting with, of course, the soil health.

Three total grape varieties are planted here: Tempranillo, Garnacha (Grenache) and Viura. For his reds, Carlos prefers an extended maceration, with varying amounts of whole clusters - vintage dependent. He raises one small issue of biodynamic farming, in its predisposition toward botrytis when harvesting late in the season, so within his winery there is a very strict sorting performed. In an effort to maintain each cluster’s health, the harvesting crates are minuscule - up to only 18 kilos per. This means less grapes are crushed or damaged before reaching the winery; just another example of the painstaking measures taken here.

While there are some Burgundy barrels in house, almost all aging is done in 500-liter or larger vats after fermentations occur in open-top vats of oak, concrete or ceramic. The wines are aged on the fine lees, checked frequently to ascertain proper bottling time - no set structure or rule for any of the wines in this regard.