Norrel and Sharon Robertson were over in the UK in May for our Wine Festival and it was a great opportunity to catch up with them both and hear in detail what was happening out in Calatayud.

Vineyard Partners will be receiving their case of the 2022 vintage, and there are notes on the year below too.

With Sharon accompanying Norrel to London this May, it was a good opportunity to hear her version of how they settled in Spain. That was in 2003 and they had a toddler and baby in tow. The time of travelling was over and Calatayud had duly beckoned. Norrel was immediately whisked away on a winemaking mission and Sharon was left in the middle of nowhere, with a newborn baby, unable to speak Spanish. She learnt the language very fast, she said … through necessity.

Just a few miles from the place they made home, they discovered Garnacha was being cultivated in 300 BC … the birthplace of this grape they believe. “That gives me a real thrill” said Norrel, “to be so close to its origins”.

Garnacha is Norrel’s most favoured grape, the one he’s most invested in when he’s scouring for old, forgotten vineyards. Many are totally abandoned, and it takes considerable digging in local records to discover the owners of the tiny patchwork of vines.

Maybe that’s why most wineries in Calatayud are cooperatives. Literally, only two, perhaps three, are privately owned. But the region boasts mature, family-owned vineyards, many of which have been forgotten – the owners have grown too old and the young aren’t interested. So, when Norrel comes across them, he’ll work hard to find out the owners – it takes months sometimes – hoping he can buy the plot and nurture the vines back to life.

It also takes diplomacy and a good command of the language to succeed, especially when there’s a difficult situation to deal with as well, family members not talking to each other, for instance. So it all takes time and coaxing to make things happen.

They’ve just bought their highest vineyard of all, at 1,000 metres, just 300 metres from where they have another vineyard. The site had been abandoned, but he managed to track the lady down, wheeling her out of the old people’s home on 3rd April this year to sign the deeds.

And so, they continue to pursue their dream, with the help and support of Vineyard Partners, old vineyard by old vineyard. This latest prized plot is just over a hectare of Garnacha, planted in 1948. There are pictures of them pruning it back on the left.

To help look after their 40 hectares of vineyard, they have employed the highly respected viticulturalist Julio Prieto as consultant. He teaches the team – three people full time – how to work the vineyards, nourish them, prune back and so on. Norrel says “Pruning is one of the most important tasks that we carry out in the vineyard, especially as we are custodians of vines up to 115 years old. Each vine is unique and must be treated individually. Bad pruning can significantly reduce the life of a vine, so that’s something we try to avoid at all costs.”

Having been granted permission, Norrel and the team dug a new well this summer. You can see the action in the photos below. Sharon reported:

“Drought over the past few years has caused real stress for the vines old and young but particularly for the young vines. The old vines saw reduced absorption of water-soluble nutrients like potassium. But it has been the young vines that have struggled most as they don’t yet have the deep, established roots that the old vines have. Our sons have been out with the team watering the younger ones, plant by plant, over the past couple of summers.”

Looking to the future, Norrel is trial planting a few ‘leftfield’ white grapes that are renowned for withstanding the heat. They aren’t strictly permitted, so we can’t tell you exactly which … yet.

Norrel also discovered a small plot of Grenache Gris in one of his vineyards at 900 metres. This grape used to be planted widely in Aragón but was largely abandoned decades back. They will make a wine from the grapes for the first time in 2024, which has them full of excitement. Grapes at this height used not to ripen properly. With global warming, this is no longer a problem.

“2022 was the first year in Arágon where the future became the present in my 20 years of working in Spain. Off the back of a winter where essentially there was no rain, a few storms in March and April brought a little respite to the vineyards. Bud burst followed typical dates, but from May onwards Calatayud and Arágon witnessed abnormally high temperatures with very little rain for the rest of the growing season. The upside was the complete absence of any kind of disease pressure.”

“A very successful flowering and fruit set gave many growers hope, but with such a lack of water through July and August, berry size was exceptionally small. On top of that, a Dutch company that sells carbon offsetting credits to fund reforestation programmes managed to start wildfires whilst working with machinery in +40ºc heat. The ensuing flames consumed 14.000 hectares of land in Calatayud and one night flames reached within metres of many of our old vineyards. It was an emotional, high stress few hours in which we could only hope they would survive.”

With deeper roots, Norrel’s old vines coped very well with the drought conditions of 2022, and the wines are looking very well balanced. As skin to juice ratio was high, they decided against punchdown during fermentation to avoid excess tannins, and instead favoured gentle pump overs to keep the cap of grape skins moist. Otherwise, vinification and ageing of the wine continued as usual and Norrel is very happy with the wine.

Sierra de los Sueños 2022

The 2022 is a bold, intense expression of Old Vine Garnacha – partly due to the age of the vineyards (50 to 115 years old) and partly to the dry vintage. Open early, ideally decant and pour into large-bowled glasses, then swirl gently. Breathe in the heady aromas of blackberry, raspberry, a hint of plum, all laced with the aromas of the wild mountain herbs, classic to the hillsides. The French oak is beautifully knit through the dark fruit with silky tannins on the palate and freshness. We love it with slow-roasted lamb, but it’d be amazing with any rich, Mediterranean-style dish, flavoured with garlic, herbs and tomato.

You may notice that the wine is packaged now in a lighter bottle, containing 32% less glass with a reduction in CO2 emissions during transport. The labels are 100% recyclable now too, made from hemp and sugar cane and designed by local artist Daniel Verón. Sierra de los Sueños is also their first wine to have a closure made with cork, beeswax and 100% bio-based (vegetal) polyol. Why do they opt for technological closures instead of natural cork?

“It’s very simple: consistency from bottle to bottle and “sensorial neutrality”. We all know that awful moment when you open a bottle of wine, anticipating that first sip only to find that it’s corked. With technological closures you avoid that.”

Norrel and team still rake in the awards – Best Red Wine of Arágon from Tim Atkin MW in April this year, plus 96 points from James Suckling for his Mataquemada red and 98 points for Valdelabarga from Spanish newspaper ABC Guía de Vinos 2024. These are just a few that they have won this year – well done team.