{"id":224406,"date":"2023-12-12T16:35:38","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T15:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tapasmagazine.es\/?p=224406"},"modified":"2023-12-13T11:07:00","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T10:07:00","slug":"tapas-interview-aitor-menchaca-menchaca-wines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tapasmagazine.es\/en\/tapas-interview-aitor-menchaca-menchaca-wines\/","title":{"rendered":"Tapas Interview | Aitor Menchaca (Menchaca Wines): “The only country competitive with Spain is South Africa. And there the labor force is a legal slavery”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Click here<\/a> to read the Spanish version.<\/strong>
Aitor Menchaca is a peculiar winegrower. When he turned 50 years old, three years ago, instead of buying a Ferrari and becoming lovers -he jokes- he bought plots of land and recovered centenary vineyards. In fact, the name of his wines ‘100 palos’ comes from there: 50 palos of his own and 100, those of his plots. Menchaca did not dedicate himself to making wine or to farming or anything to do with agriculture, but he has always worked for himself, which is exactly what allows him to continue making wine. Being from Bilbao by birth, instead of going for Denominations of Origin in the north of Spain, he saw potential in the wines of Madrid. He is also a peculiar winemaker because instead of seeing viticulture as a nest of unprofitable problems, he sees it as an opportunity and a fun retirement plan. And since he goes hand in hand with his friend Juan Carlos Sancha, besides having fun, he is at ease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where did the idea of making wine in El Molar (Madrid) come from?<\/strong>
A few years ago, I had time and money and I started to travel around the world making videos of vineyards from the air to Australia, South Africa, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, United States, France\u2026. This was during the four years my wife was stationed in Mexico. I came back and right now I have a relatively comfortable and easy life, I live from renting things. With that and some money I had saved, instead of putting it in a pension plan, I decided to invest about 100,000 euros in plots of land. The first year was in 2020 and it took me more than a year and a half to convince Juan Carlos Sancha to help me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It cost you half as much to convince Sancha as it costs to produce a new vineyard\u2026<\/strong>
I had to take him to the site. We saw that the grenaches were impressive, that they had other characteristics compared to other areas of the grenaches. And then I convinced him. In September 2020, the first year, we bought grapes to make two barrels, which is where we experimented. We made 1240 bottles, which is 200 cases, and they sold quickly. The following year we made 600 bottles of white; 100 cases that I didn’t sell because it lacked substance. It was not 100 palos, it was around 50 or 60 palos, it was not as good as it should be. And 2,300, 2,400 of red, Grenache. In the 22, which we bottled a month or so ago, there are already 1200 of white, which is 200 cases. I have made 300 magnums and about 3900 reds. In fact, that’s why I’m going to Hong Kong, because I have to start moving well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For distribution in Asia?<\/strong>
Yes, for distribution. Here in Madrid I have it, for example, in the restaurant Chir\u00f3n, El Pedrusco and La Tasquita de Enfrente. In the north I have it in the G\u00fceyu Mar, and that is a fish restaurant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would you accompany it with?<\/strong>
Perfect with grilled fish, but there are people who do not see it that way. They think it is a wine that, without being sweet, has a lot of fruit. It does not reach 12 months in barrel, usually 11 and a half, because I empty the barrels to make the next vintage. In our case, the only time they touch the stainless steel tank is when all the barrels are put together for fining. You can’t clarify barrel by barrel, well, you can, but it’s ridiculous. And then the wine would not be homogeneous either, because there is a lot of difference between barrels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the differences in grapes by variety and plot.<\/strong>
A lot. This year we will produce more or less the same wine as in 2022, a little less red. When we did the first harvest, we had about 300 kilos of grapes per hectare, the following year 800, this year a thousand\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A post shared by Aitor Menchaca (@menchacawines)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>