Las Pedreras Viñedos y Vinos is an exciting new project in the Sierra de Gredos, the mountain range and wine region west of Madrid where old-vine, high-altitude Garnacha vines yield the most perfectly-balanced Grenache-based wines in the world. Las Pedreras is a collaboration between Bárbara Requejo Frutos, a gifted young winemaker originally from Ribera del Duero, and Guzmán Sánchez de la Parra, a native of the stunning mountain village Villanueva de Avila, where his family (bakers by trade) has vineyards and Guzman himself is the chef-owner of the most ambitious restaurant in the region, La Querencia.

The couple named Las Pedreras for the Pico Las Pedreras mountain in Villanueva de Ávila, which is part of the Sierra de Gredos range proper, where old vines of Grenache grow in rocky and sandy granitic soils of various compositions and colors. Both Bárbara and Guzmán made wine before joining forces: Bárbara worked at Château Haut-Brion in Bordeaux, Pierre Peters in Champagne, Peay Vineyards on the Sonoma Coast, and Quartz Reef in New Zealand before landing at Soto-Manrique winery in Gredos, where she worked as technical director and interpreted a wide range of Garnachas from the diverse terroirs of the village of Cebreros with extreme precision and clarity. Guzmán is a chef by training, having worked at El Almacén in Ávila and Zalacaín in Madrid before returning home to Villanueva, where he
opened La Querencia and made wine from his family’s vineyards.

In 2020, they collaborated on the first vintage of Las Pedreras, with dazzling results: two red wines, a rosé, and a sparkling rosé, all made of Garnacha, all of which sizzle with the same intensity and clear, futuristic vision that radiate from the winemakers themselves. They work 3.2 hectares of vines organically and thoughtfully, parsing a complex range of altitudes, orientations, and terroirs in Villanueva de Avila, and neighboring villages Navaltalgordo and Burgohondo into a delicious village/regional wine (Los Arroyuelos Garnacha), a single paraje wine (Las Ánimas Garnacha) and a complex, stony rosé (Arquitón). In addition, they are planting a hectare of vines on a parcel of
land at over 1200 meters altitude in the village of Navarrevisca, overlooking the whole zone. Their particular power as a team is shaped by Guzmán’s strong entrepreneurial vision and Barbara’s talent for blending (something she credits to her time at Haut-Brion and Pierre Peters). Although small in production, Las Pedreras is impressive in scope, combining Garnacha vines of the past and future into vivacious, age-worthy, and radical wines. A brand new side of Gredos to marvel at and enjoy!