Hodgkinson Garnacha Peluda

In the early 1970’s, Peter Hodgkinson, an English architect based in Barcelona, was looking for a house to buy for his weekend escapades with his family for holidays. He found and bought an abandoned 76-Hectare property called Mas del Habanero. Today his sons Caspar, David and Luca Hodgkinson are making minimum intervention natural wines. This mono varietal comes from the grapes of the Garnacha Peluda (Hairy Garnacha) vines planted in 1978. Although a common Priorato variety before the phylloxera crisis, it was abandoned by the local peasants due to its low yield and slow ripening in favour of higher yielding varieties. The hairy under-leaf helps retain moisture allowing for a good phenolic maturity with a lower alcohol content. The bunches are hand-picked, destemmed and fermented in amphoras and subsequently aged in 500L French Oak barrels over 24 months.