Diego Losada is a Bierzo native who, after working at a couple bigger wineries, struck out on his own with his project La Senda (meaning “the path” or “the way”) in 2013. He works organically with just over 5 hectares of 60+ year old vineyards at elevations of over 600 feet, about 15 parcels in total. He looks for bush vine vineyards that are not easily accessible by road and planted on either clay-calcareous or slate soils since they are less likely to be exposed to chemical treatments. In the winery, Diego works with a mix of unlined concrete vats and older oak & chestnut casks and foudre with no pumps or SO2 additions.
100% Alicante Bouschet (aka Garnacha Tintorera). La Barbacana comes from an 80–95-year-old vineyard of the same name situated in front of a 13th century castle and planted on slate, quartz, and iron rich clay-calcareous soils on the western edge of Bierzo.
The grapes are hand-harvested and partially destemmed, macerate on their skins for 3-4 days, and ferment in opentop chestnut vats. Fermentation finishes in 650L chestnut barrels, and the wine rests in the same for 12 months before bottling without fining, filtration, or sulfur additions.