Description

Ancestral Petit Verdot | Spain

Ancestral Petit Verdot is a bold and characterful red created by winemaker Fernando Galvañ from 100% Petit Verdot. Normally seen as part of a blend, here this powerful grape gets the bottle entirely to itself — and the result is rich, expressive and rather delicious.

Dark fruit leads the way, with ripe plum and forest berries joined by warm spice, dried herbs and roasted coffee. There is plenty of intensity, but the wine also has a silky texture that makes all that richness surprisingly easy to enjoy. Guía Peñín describes the style as fruity, spicy and roasted, with coffee and dried-herb notes.

The wine spends 20 months in oak, giving it depth and a more rounded character while adding those lovely toasted and spicy notes around the fruit.

This is definitely a bottle for food — think a good steak, slow-cooked beef, game or a seriously mature cheese. But it’s equally suited to an evening when you simply fancy opening something richer and a little out of the ordinary.

And it isn’t just an interesting bottle on paper: Ancestral Petit Verdot won a Gold Medal at VinEspaña 2025, giving Fernando Galvañ’s unusual single-variety interpretation some well-deserved recognition.

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🍇 Key Details

• Region: Spain
• Grapes: 100% Petit Verdot
• Ageing: 20 months in oak
• Alcohol: 15% Vol.
• Style: Rich, full-bodied, spicy and silky
• Serving Temperature: 16–18°C
• Contains Sulfites

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🍷 Tasting Notes

• Appearance: Deep cherry red with violet tones
• Aroma: Ripe plum and forest fruit with spice, dried herbs and roasted coffee
• Palate: Full-bodied and flavourful with ripe dark fruit, silky texture, warm spice and a long toasted finish

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🍽 Food Pairing

• Grilled steak
• Slow-cooked beef
• Roast lamb
• Game
• Rich meat stews
• Mature cheeses

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💎 Why We Love It

Petit Verdot rarely gets a bottle all to itself, which makes this immediately interesting. Rich dark fruit, spice and a silky texture make it a cracking choice when you fancy a proper, full-flavoured red.

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About the Producer

Ancestral Petit Verdot comes from the wine project of Fernando Galvañ, the winemaker behind Bodegas Maquiavelo and, more recently, Bodega Finca Ancestral.

Fernando has spent more than 15 years making wine in the Altiplano area between Yecla and Jumilla. Wine also runs deeply through his family: he is the great-grandson of Primitivo Quiles, one of the historic names of wine in the region.

His Ancestral wines sit at the more individual end of the range. Rather than concentrating only on the region’s famous Monastrell, Fernando also explores varieties such as Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Alicante Bouschet, producing distinctive wines in limited quantities.

Ancestral Petit Verdot is a particularly good example of that approach. Petit Verdot normally appears as a supporting grape in blends, but Fernando gives it centre stage, allowing its dark fruit, spice, structure and naturally silky character to shine.

The wine has attracted recognition too. The 2023 Ancestral Petit Verdot received Gold at VinEspaña 2025, where it was entered by Bodegas Maquiavelo. Guía Peñín subsequently tasted the wine and confirmed it as a 100% Petit Verdot from the same winery.

Explore more in our Red wine collection.