A short distance away from Madrid, the rugged, weathered peaks of the Sierra de Gredos serve as a refreshingly cool retreat from the heat and the bustle of the capital. Ancient hilltop towns and cottages dot the tortured landscape of alpine meadows, tumbled boulders and thick scrub brush. Clustered around this rocky spine are several DOs most notably Mentrida and Viños de Madrid which are best known for producing reliably inexpensive and simple country wines to slake the thirst of the capital. But viticulture in Spain is ancient and tenacious so the adventurous can also find vineyards planted in the most impossible places including rockfalls and natural amphitheaters high up in the most remote places. Dani Landi is a native of this region. Growing up in Méntrida in a family of vineyard owners and farmers, he knew he wanted to do more than grow bulk grapes and sell them to the local cooperative. Instead he envisioned making wines from his family’s vineyards. For many years he was the winemaker at Bodegas Jimenez-Landi a company he formed with his cousin but in he left in 2012 to create his own eponymous label. In doing so he kept part of his family’s inheritance as well as a few sites that he had purchased or leased himself. All of these sites are small isolated vineyards of Garnacha and Albillo perched high up in the Sierra de Gredos. While they bear various DO designations they are all sites with sandy weathered soils, high in elevation and meticulously and biodynamically farmed. Along with the pioneers of the Priorat, Dani is redefining what was previously viewed as a workhorse variety, Garnacha, into something that can rival the elegance and finesse of Pinot in Burgundy or Syrah in Hermitage. Las Uvas de la Ira, or “The Grapes of Wrath” is a cuvée of Garnacha from several sites on granitic sands near the village of El Real de San Vicente. The vine age of these parcels averages about 60 years-old. The same care is taken with this “entry level” wine as with his single vineyard cuvées – after harvesting the grapes by hand the fruit is fermented in three vats: a direct pressing of the whole clusters and natural fermentation as a white wine, a short fermentation and extractive maceration, and a traditional whole cluster fermentation with long, gentle maceration. The three vats are then blended and aged in foudre for 12 months.