Habla
Bodegas Habla farms 200 hectares of slate soils near Trujillo, in Extremadura. Juan Tirado and José Civantos founded the estate in 1999, after eight years spent searching for the right terroir. The soil is poor, the summers scorching, the winters bitterly cold. The numbered series follows one rule: each number appears exactly once and is never repeated. Alongside it stand wines with fixed names, among them the Habla del Silencio, made from syrah, tempranillo and cabernet sauvignon. The winery sits half underground, and in the cellar gravity alone moves the grapes.
Trujillo and 200 hectares of slate
Juan Tirado and José Civantos spent eight years searching for the terroir for their project before finding it in 1999 in Trujillo, in the heart of Extremadura. It was from this town that Francisco Pizarro once set out for Peru. Bodegas Habla's 200 hectares lie on slate, a soil that gives little. Whatever grows here must withstand scorching summer heat and bitterly cold winters.
The founders and the name
Juan Tirado and José Civantos came to wine as entrepreneurs. The name of their estate traces back to a legend: when Michelangelo completed his statue of Moses in 1513, he is said to have struck the figure's knee with his hammer in a fit of emotion, crying out "Speak!" ("Habla!"). For vineyard and cellar, the two founders brought in winemakers Florent Dumeau from Bordeaux and Eduardo de José Prada.
The winery by GAP Arquitectos
GAP Arquitectos designed a 12,000-square-metre building, half of which lies underground. This saves energy and allows the grapes to be moved by gravity alone, following the Roman model. The copper exterior develops a patina over the years. The design earned the Extremadura Architecture Award. Inside, stainless steel fermentation zones alternate with spaces built from black slate and chestnut wood.
The numbered wines
At Bodegas Habla, each number appears exactly once. The Habla Nº 29, made from cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and malbec, is followed by Nº 30, then Nº 31, and none is ever repeated. That way, each vintage stands on its own. Behind a number lies either a single-varietal wine or a small, limited-edition blend: Habla Nº 30 is a syrah from organic farming, Nº 34 and Nº 38 are made from tempranillo, Nº 37 from malbec, Nº 27 from cabernet franc.
Alongside these, Bodegas Habla also produces wines with fixed names. The Habla del Silencio combines syrah, tempranillo and cabernet sauvignon, the Esencia de Habla brings together cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot; Habla la Tierra serves as the entry-level wine. For the Habla del Mar, the winery ferments wine in pressure tanks submerged on the seabed, studying how pressure, temperature and movement affect it.