07/30/2025
Last week we did a wine tasting version of the famed Camino de Santiago pilgrimage with our friends at . We showcased several producers along this route but there was one that was a real surprise and big hit moreover. The producer in question was Almaroja and the wine was the 2019 Pirita.
Behind Almaroja is Charlotte Allen— an English expat living in the village of Fermoselle, the “Wild West” of Spain in the Arribes Dao region where she’s known as Carlota the Francesa. She makes her wines from 75+ year old organic vineyards, co-fermenting these field blends, which contain more than a dozen different red and white grapes that few have encountered.
At the core of the impressive 2019 Pirita bottling is 50% Juan Garcia, field blended along with another 18 grapes, including Tempranillo, Rufete, Bruñal, among many others. Considering the dizzying array of varieties behind this wine’s story, it would be difficult to set an expectation on this wine; in the glass, however, the results are otherworldly. Rich, concentrated, and silky, with layers of bruised plum, dark chocolate, wildflowers, baked clay, and exotic spices. This wine is young but it is hedonistic and complex, and delivers the type of experience that one would find in a wine in the $100-200 range. Considering this is $35, this is one of those wines that I would recommend grabbing armfuls of, so please act while we still have availability.
