Bodega mil300 - Laroles, Las Alpujarras, GRANADA
Young enologist Pau Gomez Facundo decided to give up working for large classic estate wineries in his home region Catalunya and move to his grandfather’s birth village Laroles 1300 metres above sea level in the remote mountains of the Alpujarras. There he took on a small space in the village and set up his cellar, rented and bought some old parcels in the surrounding mountains and started experimenting, making the kinds of wines that he never got to make while working for the big boys.
Pau works almost exclusively with old vines of varieties indigenous to the Alpujarras such as Vigiriego and Perruna as well as more generally Spanish varietals like Macabeo, Bobal and Tempranillo. He vinifies in a variety of ways - using stainless steel, old wood and amphora and his winemaking style is pragmatic and experimental rather than dogmatic - i.e. if he can make a wine without sulphur he will, if he thinks it needs it, he’ll add it.
In the vineyard Pau uses a very hands off approach and much to his neighbours’ horror he leaves all the wild grass, herbs and flowers to grow between the vines. It is a perfect example of biodiveristy in the vineyard and this translates into complexity in the wine.
We feel lucky enough to have met and begun working with Pau just a few years after his first vintage and believe that he’s somewhat of a legend in the making.
