Comando G Rozas Village 2023

Comando G Rozas Village 2023 is a vibrant, high-altitude Garnacha from the granitic slopes around Rozas de Puerto Real in the Vinos de Madrid appellation. Sourced from five small plots totaling just five hectares at around 900 meters, it offers remarkable finesse and purity for a village-level wine. This cuvée captures the new wave of Spanish mountain reds: pale, precise, and driven more by energy and texture than sheer power.

Tasting Notes
In the glass, Rozas Village 2023 shows a translucent ruby hue with garnet highlights, echoing its elegant, lighter-bodied style. The nose is lifted and pure, with aromas of fresh pomegranate, wild strawberries, red currants and rose petals, underpinned by hints of chalk dust, white pepper and a subtle herbal edge. On the palate, the wine is juicy and finely etched, with crunchy red fruit, a tangy pomegranate bite and delicate strawberry notes gliding over a powdery, almost chalk-like texture. Tannins are ultra-fine and silky, giving structure without weight, while bright acidity keeps everything mouthwatering and precise. The finish is clean, savoury and long on mineral notes rather than oak. Enjoyable in its youth for its vibrancy and perfume, it should evolve gracefully over the next 5–8 years, gaining complexity while retaining its finesse.

Production
The grapes for Rozas Village 2023 come from five granitic vineyards around Rozas de Puerto Real, planted on poor, sandy decomposed granite at an average altitude of about 900 meters. This high, rugged terrain in the Sierra de Gredos provides cool nights, slow ripening and naturally low yields, concentrating flavor while preserving acidity. Comando G farms these old-vine Garnacha parcels organically with a strong respect for biodiversity, typically harvesting by hand in small crates to ensure perfect fruit selection in the vineyard. In the cellar, their philosophy is minimal intervention: gentle handling, often with a significant portion of whole clusters, spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts, and a restrained extraction to emphasize delicacy and terroir transparency. Aging usually takes place in large, neutral oak or concrete to avoid overt wood influence, allowing the granitic minerality and pure red fruit character to stand at the forefront. The 2023 was bottled in August 2024, with a limited production of just 11,298 bottles.

Food & Serving
This elegant, medium-bodied Garnacha is extremely versatile at the table and pairs beautifully with dishes that echo its delicacy and aromatic lift. Think grilled or roast poultry (especially herb-roasted chicken), pork loin, charcuterie, and lighter lamb preparations, as well as mushroom dishes, roasted root vegetables, tomato-based pastas, and Mediterranean cuisine with olive oil, thyme and rosemary. It also works very well with semi-hard cheeses such as Manchego, Comté or aged Gouda. Serve slightly cool at around 14–16°C (57–61°F) in a Burgundy-style glass to highlight its perfume and texture. A gentle 30–45 minutes in a decanter can help the aromatics open up, especially in the first few years after release, but aggressive aeration is not necessary given its finesse and already expressive character.

Producer
Comando G is one of Spain’s most influential modern producers, founded by friends and winemakers Fernando García and Daniel Gómez Jiménez-Landi in the mountainous Sierra de Gredos, west of Madrid. Their mission from the outset was to reveal the true potential of old-vine Garnacha grown on high-altitude granite, slate and sand, crafting wines of Burgundian elegance rather than the heavy, over-extracted styles previously associated with the grape. By championing organic and biodynamic farming, meticulous work in often remote, ancient vineyards, and a low-intervention philosophy in the cellar, Comando G has become a reference point not only for Vinos de Madrid but for Spanish fine wine as a whole. Their wines—regularly lauded by international critics—have helped put the Gredos region on the global map, demonstrating that Garnacha from these mountain sites can rival some of the world’s most refined and terroir-expressive reds.