Finca Sandoval

With his intelligent winemaking vision, Víctor de la Serna has revolutionized La Manchuela in less than a decade, creating a top national wine from a meticulously cared-for vineyard. Víctor de la Serna is the man who has put La Manchuela on the winemaking map. His red wine Finca Sandoval is a gem that stands above the appellation itself. A wine that has turned its creator into a prominent figure in the world of viticulture. This is affirmed by the main specialized guides, wine magazines, and gurus such as the American Robert Parker, who awarded 94 points out of 100 to his Finca Sandoval 2006 wine, the highest-rated in all of Castilla La Mancha. A renowned gastronomic and wine journalist, De la Serna decided in 1998 to realize his dream of creating a top wine in the lands of the Júcar and Cabriel rivers. Thus, he moved to the municipality of Ledaña (Cuenca), where he had a family estate, and against the established norms, he chose to cultivate a vine variety without tradition in the region, Syrah. A decision he made convinced that the peculiarities of the terroir were ideal for this grape. Today, Syrah is the queen of his carefully tended 10-hectare vineyard. Several ingredients make up the recipe for success: a closely monitored vineyard harvested by hand; technical direction by Rafael Orozco, with whom Víctor de la Serna forms an exceptional team; and the use of modern winemaking techniques rarely seen in the region: gravity-fed grape unloading, long cold macerations prior to fermentation; the use of small, open synthetic tanks that perfectly preserve aromas; malolactic fermentation in barrels; climate-controlled aging cellars, and bottling the wine unfiltered and unclarified.