New Twist on Gredos’ Old Vines, Santa Barbara’s Emerging 2024 and Refining Soave Style

The JamesSuckling.com tasting team rated 372 wines over the past week, with much of the focus on the latest offerings from the Gredos region of Spain, Santa Barbara, California and Soave, Italy. Senior Editor Jacobo García Andrade recently visited Indiano and Domaine Dexaïe, located in Cebreros and Navaluenga, respectively, in Avila, Castilla and Leon – a region renowned for its garnachas, which, combined with the granite soils and high altitudes, produce distinct and refined expressions of the variety. 

Indiano is a promising new project in Gredos, based in Cebreros – about an hour and a half west of Madrid – and founded by Macarena Nogara, who is from Argentina, Frenchman Charly Gotchac (her partner) and and Spaniard Jose Maria Garcia Jimenez. They work across three villages – Cebreros, El Barraco, and San Esteban del Valle – though they feel a special connection to San Esteban, where they live. Each day, they drive north to their winery in Cebreros, covering the region from south to north. 

This geographical span is central to their vision. As Nogara explained, their garnachas aim to capture the identity of each village and valley as they deepen their understanding of the region. They are now releasing their 2024 regional expressions and will soon follow with a series of single-vineyard wines. 

Their Indiano Garnacha Cebreros Sierra 2024 blends vineyards from all three subregions, combining the bright fruit of San Esteban, the tension of El Barraco’s altitude and the muscle of warmer Cebreros. The old, head-pruned garnacha vines lie between 700 and 1,050 meters on granite soils. Each subregion is vinified separately, with varying degrees of whole-cluster fermentation (zero to 50 percent). Extraction is gentle, consisting of light punch-downs or delicate pump-overs once a day. The result is a wine of structure and definition, guided by freshness and generous red fruit. 

They also make an exceptional clarete, which was included in our Top 100 Wines of Spain 2025: the Indiano Spain Clarete 2024 – a co-fermented blend of 50 percent moscatel from San Esteban and 50 percent garnacha from Cebreros. It undergoes a long static maceration until January, when it is pressed using mostly free-run juice, then aged eight months in amphora. The result is wild and distinctive, with exuberant moscatel aromatics tempered by garnacha’s depth, a subtle tannic edge, and linear freshness – a truly unique, outside-of–the-box wine for the region. 

Domaine Dexaïe, based in Navarrevisca de Gredos, is run by Carmen de la Pascua and Emmanuel Campana, who manage both vineyards and winemaking. Their work centers on reviving old, terraced vineyards in La Camilleja in Navarrevisca, which they have been restoring over the past five years. 

Recently, they reconfigured one of their wines, the Domaine Dexaïe Garnacha Cebreros Alto Alberche 2023, into a blend from Burgohondo and Navatalgordo, located between 800 and 900 meters above sea level, about two hours west of Madrid. Thoughtfully selected parcels were chosen to balance the region’s austere character with a more succulent expression of high-altitude garnacha. Fermented with whole clusters and given a two-month static maceration, it aged 18 months – 80 percent in foudre and 20 percent in concrete. The result is a wine of clarity, typicity and refined approachability.  

Campana enthusiastically mentioned during the visit that 2023 was the first vintage in which they were able to fill a thousand-liter foudre of their top wine, the Domaine Dexaie Garnacha Cebreros La Camilleja 2023, which comes from a spectacular vineyard set among towering granite rocks, holm oaks, oaks, and the occasional fig tree. It's one of the top wines of the region. 

All of these wines are just hitting the market this November – seek them out, as they are fresh, unique expressions of Gredos that deserve a look.

Alongside these wines are some of Bierzo’s top-scoring releases, including the exceptional César Márquez Mencía Bierzo Sufreiral Vino de Paraje 2023, the ethereal Bodegas y Viñedos de Viariz Mencía Bierzo La Muria 2023, Verónica Ortega Mencía Bierzo A Bruxa 2023, and the elegant and absorbing Michelini i Mufatto Mencía Bierzo Encinado 2023.

Santa Barbara's Emerging 2024

The terrific 2023 vintage in Santa Barbara County, California, set a very high bar for succeeding vintages to meet, but now that more reds and whites from 2024 are becoming available it’s increasingly clear that it, too, is a vintage to pay attention to, as Staff Writer & Taster Brian Freedman found out during his recent tastings there.

That is a very good thing, especially considering the fact that production volumes in 2024 tended to be on the lower side. So while there may not be as much available as in previous vintages, what does hit the market is well worth considering.

The positive impression the 2024 wines left during his on-site visits to Santa Barbara producers has only grown as Brian has tapped into more samples in his office and during an East Coast swing in Philadelphia. Over the past two weeks, he has tasted more than 80 wines of various vintages from Santa Barbara County, and the 20-plus 2024s, both red and white have stood apart – whether Burgundy, Bordeaux or Rhone varieties.

Folded Hills saw particular success. Their Folded Hills Grenache Santa Ynez Valley Sundance Reserve 2024 is a notable winner – a postured, well-spiced gem with mixed mountain berries and cherries showing layers of scrubby herbs and juniper, all of it ending with a sizzle of peppercorns and crunchy minerals. It’s the kind of wine that’s hard to resist in the short term but has the dusty tannins to promise several years of evolution in the cellar.

Rhone-style whites from 2024 also shined. The Rideau Vineyard Roussanne Los Olivos District 2024, for example, embodies the lusciousness that is often associated with many of the great white varieties of the region. This one is plush with beeswax and cardamom that complement pear fritters, apricots and honeyed almonds, making for a wine whose youthful fruit will morph into a nuttier and more savory state with a few years’ time.

The Dovecote Viognier Los Olivos District Quail Valley Vineyard Estate 2024 is another standout, this one with a silky, elegantly aromatic character of honeysuckle, citrus blossoms and nectarines. A flutter of white tea adds fascinating complexity without unnecessary weight.

Pinot noir and chardonnay also had some brights spots in Santa Barbara’s 2024 vintage, as expected. The wines of Busy Signal, which are produced by the highly regarded winemaker Adam Lee and boast arresting graphics on the labels, were among the many highlights when Lee stopped by Philadelphia at the beginning of an East Coast swing recently to taste with Brian.

The Busy Signal Pinot Noir Santa Rita Hills 2024 is a lengthy, nicely concentrated wine that fans out on the palate with star anise, toasted fennel seeds and cherries, all of it resolving on a minerally, sarsaparilla-kissed finish. And the Koehler Chardonnay Santa Ynez Valley Estate Grown Old Vine 2024 embodies the profundity that old vines (from 1971, in this case) can impart,  lending savoriness to a core of stone fruit, melon and spice. For all of that depth, however, there is a nerviness to its salinity that lingers and haunts through the finish.

The 2024s from Santa Barbara will continue to roll out over the course of the next year and beyond, depending on elevage and release-date schedules. But so far, there is a lot to be excited about in a vintage that, what it may lack in volume, makes up for in charm, complexity, easily drinkability and, in many cases, cellarworthiness.

Refining Soave Style

A recent tasting at the Consorzio headquarters for Veneto's renowned Soave wine revealed a pair of producers worth noting, according to Senior Editor Aldo Fiordelli. These are not exactly underdogs among the better-known top players – names like Pieropan, Suavia and Inama – but two estates that deserve attention right now.

Gianni Tessari's wines impressed for their tension and minerality; Le Battistelle's for their concentration and savory depth. Both are in the Soave Classico hills, which are distinguishable from the valley-floor vineyards by their volcanic soils. In these slopes, limestone and basalt often alternate within a few hundred meters, shaping a mosaic of expressions.

The 2024 vintage appears fresh yet concentrated and well balanced, while 2023 tends toward a leaner profile and 2022 shows more phenolic grip. Texture and weight on the palate remain key to assessing Soave’s quality, as yields often reach around 100 quintals per hectare. The interplay between trebbiano di Soave and garganega also defines the style: the former adds structure and tension, the latter refinement and grace.

Gianni Tessari’s Soave Classico Scalete 2024 stands out for its nervy precision, with sour citrus, smoky sulfur tones, yellow grapefruit, lemon leaf and ripe white peach. Medium-bodied, it radiates silky texture and magnetic tension, inviting another glass.

From Le Battistelle, the Soave Classico 2023 shows a layered, leesy and slightly reductive style, rich in smoky aromas that mingle with candied lemon and fresh apricot. Pure garganega spirit. Medium-bodied, bright and vibrant, it combines tension with weight and texture, lingering with admirable length.

– Jacobo García Andrade, Brian Freedman and Aldo Fiordelli contributed reporting.

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated during the past week by the JamesSuckling.com tasting team. They include many latest releases not yet available on the market, but which will be available soon. Some will be included in upcoming tasting reports.

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