In the Sierra de Gredos mountains west of Madrid, 4 Monos Viticultores “Four Monkeys” is making delicious wines emblematic of the “New Spain” movement. The project is a collaboration between four friends: Javier García (formerly of Bodegas Jiménez-Landi), Laura Garcia, David Moreno, and David Velasco who met while hiking in those mountains and bonded over the wines from the region. Since founding the winery in 2010, the group has earned a loyal following for lithe, expressive Garnacha and old-vine Albillo Real grown in high-altitude vineyards, mostly around Sierra de Gredos.

Their wines are rooted in a strong commitment to organic farming, bush-vine viticulture, and minimal intervention in the cellar. The team works with over 15 hectares of estate and leased vines, mostly at high elevations. The vineyards are divided into many small, old-vine plots, some more than 60 years old, with natural vegetation between the rows and no herbicides.

In the cellar whole-cluster, spontaneous fermentation and elevage in neutral oak barrels, foudres, and concrete tanks make for transparent examples of the terroir. The wines are bottled unfiltered with only minimal sulfur to further enhance this transparency. We love their entry level GR-10 line that gives a beautiful picture into the mountain wines of Spain.