A Pie de Tierra

In 2015, Aitor Paul, a sommelier at Lavinia, and David Villamiel, a winegrower from Méntrida, met during their training at the Professional School of Viticulture and Oenology in Madrid. Their shared educational experience and diverse backgrounds provided them with theoretical knowledge about vineyards, insight into the rapidly changing practice of wine growing in Spain, and the unique opportunity to put their mark on Garnacha from the Sierra de Gredos after they finished their internships at Bodegas Valquejigoso and Comando G.

Armed with newfound experience after working with Dani Landi and Fernando Garcia, Aitor and David created A Pie de Tierra – a project based on vineyards of Garnacha planted on granitic soils that David’s family had farmed for generations. Their beliefs are simple: respecting the land and making wines they love to drink. Starting with twenty hectares of David’s family estate, all located within the Alberche valley, their Garnacha is either old, head-pruned vines or younger vines grafted onto ancient rootstock. Planted long before the Gredos was recognized for the quality of its Garnacha, their vineyards host a wide range of biotypes of Garnacha, an ancestral inheritance of the most suitable massale selection of Garnacha. Expanding beyond Mentrida, David and Aitor also farm a 4.5-hectare vineyard in Aldea del Fresno in the neighboring DO Vinos de Madrid.

Following the approach to winemaking they observed at Comando G, their gentle macerations are suited to an internal classification they’ve devised for their vineyards—around 25 days for their “village” wine, El Surco, while Fuerza Bruta sees up to 60 days on its skins before pressing. Fermentations are spontaneous and range from 70-100% whole cluster. They only employ used French oak barrels or vats made from French oak or Galician chestnut for aging their wines. Not all the wines made at A Pie de Tierra are bottled, so when Eric Solomon visited with Aitor and David a few years ago, he was so taken by the wines that he moved his Granito project here – Granito de Gredos.