Uvas Felices

Uvas Felices is not just an ordinary winery but a collaborative Spanish wine project built around old vines, local grapes and a network of top growers and winemakers across several regions in Spain. It was created to make wines with the accent on terroir from vineyards with specific quality and character.

History
The story of Uvas Felices starts in Barcelona with Vila Viniteca, a family business founded in 1932 as a small food and wine shop in the old quarter near the church of Santa Maria del Mar. Over time, the shop turned into one of Spain’s most influential fine‑wine merchants, supplying restaurants and collectors and thereby creating relationships with a number of winemakers all through Spain.

In the 1990s, co‑owner and long‑time winegrower Francisco Martí, together with Quim Vila, began looking for old vineyards and almost forgotten grape varieties that were at risk of disappearing. Out of that search came small‑lot wines such as “Paisajes” and “Viña al Lado de la Casa,”. This approach eventually evolved into the formal Uvas Felices project, designed as a collection of regional wines made with trusted partners.

In stead of buying vineyards everywhere, Uvas Felices started to work intensively with winegrowers, which sometimes ends up in joint ventures. In Rioja, in Rueda, in Madrid or Rías Baixas, the project leans on local expertise, using winemakers who know each hillside and who already farm old vines in those areas. It is all about control over high quality and identity of each vine, grape and wine.

Over the last decade, this has turned Uvas Felices into a recognizable name on restaurant lists in Spain and abroad, especially in places that care about origin‑driven wines.

The vineyards
Because Uvas Felices works across Spain, “its” vineyards are spread over several very different landscapes rather than concentrated around one estate building. In the hills west of Madrid, the project sources fruit from old bush Garnacha vines, often between 50 and 90 years old, planted on slopes near the Sierra de Gredos. These are low‑yielding plots where each vine carries only a small number of bunches, which helps concentrations. In Rías Baixas, on the Atlantic coast of Galicia, the Albariño grapes come from cooler, wetter vineyards much closer to sea level, often grown high on pergolas to keep the grapes away from the humidity of the ground. In Rioja, the Paisajes wines are built from a patchwork of small parcels rather than big blocks, thereby adding different soils.

Many of the growers who supply grapes to Uvas Felices farm their land in a way that respects older practices. You are likely to find a mix of bush vines, dry farming and manual work in the steepest or most fragmented parcels, just because tractors cannot easily get in. Yields are kept low, and existing old vines are prefered rather than planting younger, more productive ones. In cooler or Atlantic‑influenced zones, canopy management is used to avoid rotting of the vines in wet years, while in hotter inland regions the priority is protecting bunches from intense sun and preserving acidity.

The terroir
Uvas Felices's wines are very varied. Around Cadalso de los Vidrios and the wider Sierra de Gredos area, the vineyards are located on higher altitudes with granitic and sandy soils. These poor soils are well drained and make the vines go deep for water and minerals, which gives extra quality to the final wine. In contrast, the Rías Baixas terroir where Albariño is grown is shaped by the Atlantic Ocean: mild temperatures, high rainfall, with granitic or schistous soils that give a saline, stony edge to the wines.

In Rioja, the vineyards used for the Paisajes wines are located in a  inland climate, with a mixture of continental and Atlantic influences and vineyards with clay‑limestone, alluvial and sometimes sandstone‑based soils. 

The project’s philosophy is to emphasize on these differences. Labels and cuvée names often give indications of the specific vineyards and their origins, so drinkers know more what is in the glass.

Grapes used
Uvas Felices is built on using native Spanish varieties. In the Sierra de Gredos and nearby high‑altitude areas, Garnacha (Grenache) dominates the red wines. In Rías Baixas, Albariño is the main white grape. In Rioja, the blends may contain Tempranillo and Garnacha for reds, and traditional white grapes such as Viura for whites.

Other Uvas Felices wines can include grapes like Mencía, Godello or even less familiar local varieties, especially when the partners work in areas where these grapes are not widely used. The guiding principle is always to use what belongs to that area or vineyard. 

Winemaking
Winemaking at Uvas Felices is straight-forward: relatively low‑intervention and very specific for the vineyard and grape. Grapes are usually harvested by hand, older or steep vineyards are always hand-harvested. Grapes are sorted to remove underripe or damaged fruit. Fermentation use local yeasts from the vineyard. In Garnacha‑based reds, extraction is handled gently, often with soft pumping‑over or light punch‑downs, to avoid too much tannins and preserve the uniqueness of the grapes.

Ageing depends on the style: some cuvées stay in larger, older oak vats or foudres, which allow slow oxygen exchange without heavy wood flavor. Others, especially whites and lighter reds, are longer aged in stainless steel or concrete. Sulphur is used, but always in line with modern fine‑wine practice rather than industrial winemaking.

The project’s partners, like the Comando G team in Gredos or with Bodega Zárate in Rías Baixas, bring in winemakers already known for careful, terroir‑driven work, so Uvas Felices can lean on their local experience.

Did you know ...
The name “Uvas Felices” literally means “Happy Grapes” in Spanish, sticking to the idea that well‑farmed, well‑treated grapes make better wine.

Several Uvas Felices wines, including some from the Garnacha project in Gredos and the Albariño collaboration in Rías Baixas, have found their way onto the lists of top restaurants, amongst others in Michelin‑starred dining rooms.

One of the early flagship labels, “Viña al Lado de la Casa,” simply means “the vineyard next to the house,” an name that reflects how the project often starts from something as straightforward as a local grower’s best nearby plot.