El Escocés Volante

A family owned business based in Aragón, Spain, passionate about

producing high quality wines with a particular focus on the native Garnacha variety. Owner and winemaker is Norrel Robertson MW, he drives forward their believe that quality is born in the vineyard, endeavouring to make

authentic wines that are the true expression of their terroir.

Sustainability starts with the rescue of old vines, no irrigation, no over cropping, no pesticides. They create their own biochar from vine prunings to sequester carbon, bottles are light, labels are made from sugar cane and hemp paper. Sharon and Norrel continue to build their family business for the future.

Calatayud

SPAIN

With the largest area planted to vineyards in the world, Spain enjoys huge exposure for its myriad of styles.

The warm climate and expanses of land allow them to produce large quantities of well-made wines at very competitive prices. The awareness that old vines have more resilience to drought, is leading to greater focus on the older vineyards, resulting in concentrated, complex wines that are showing a great sense of place. The range of well-priced styles across Spain plays to the popularity it enjoys.

Owner & Winemaker Norrel Robertson MW

A family-owned business based in Aragón, Spain, passionate about producing high quality wines with a particular focus on the native Garnacha variety.

Cup & Rings -an Albariño which stands out in terms of its purity and freshness and that also has the capacity to age gracefully in bottle for 5-10 years.

Sustainability is key. In the vineyards, they have implemented organic viticultural practices since 2014 and have recently started the certification process.

Viticulture

This is a landscape of extremes: the stark contrasts of the continental climate; the extreme diurnal temperature change and the seasonal temperature changes; the variety of soils from slate, to clay to iron rich wild west scenery; the altitude of the vineyards; the aromas of the mountain herbs. All of our vineyards are dry-grown and this, coupled with the unique terroir, produces grapes and wines that are naturally low-yielding, concentrated but always fresh and finely balanced. Our vineyards are based around the towns of Villarroya de la Sierra, Cervera de la Cañada and Torralba.

Winemaking

Sustainability is key and for us, this means building our business with an eye always on the impact our actions have on the quality of the product, the environment and on the local community. In the vineyards, we have implemented organic viticultural practices since 2014 and have recently started the certification process. All our team members receive expert training annually from renowned Spanish viticulturalist Julio Prieto, in pruning and shoot thinning techniques to ensure the health and longevity of the vines. We don’t overcrop, we don’t irrigate (with the exception of some of our new plantings during extreme heatwaves such as the one we are experiencing now in 2022) and we don’t use pesticides. We maintain a cover crop during the winter months to promote soil health but we till as summer approaches to reduce fire risk. In 2022, we witnessed first-hand the positive results of tilling, as wildfires ravaged 14,000 hectares around us yet our vineyards were not affected. We have recently invested in a kiln to create our own biochar from vine cuttings: this contributes to carbon sequestration, mitigating the effects of climate change and also increases water retention in the soil. As for the winery side of our operation, we recently began using a material which is a combination of sugar cane and hemp paper for around 95% of our wine labels and they are 100% recyclable. Our bottles are made with 88% recycled glass. In the near future, we are looking to change our bottles to a lighter glass content as this will contribute to a reduction in CO2 emissions in transport.