Today, we want to talk to you about one of those upcoming hot spots within the winemaking world: Ribeira Sacra. Many of you are already familiar with our devotion towards this vertiginous and vertical region but, recently, we've been exploring in deep the sub-region of Quiroga. More precisely, through the last twists of the River Sil right before it exits Quiroga to enter in Amandi (which is Ribeira Sacra's core and the most renown bit of this region). However, this very last corner of Quiroga doesn't have anything to envy to Amandi: it's vertical, it's heroical, and it's filled with talented winemakers, like Adega Sernande and Adega Entre Cantos which are the projects we want to talk to you about today.
If for a moment you remained inert at the top of Mirador da Capela, you would hear it. The silence. Up there, standing on a wooden viewpoint suspended over the immensity of a dramatically vertical landscape at 609m high, you can connect with the energy given off by the old vineyards that sit on slopes that date as far back as the construction of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
From here, letting our gaze fall to the left, we can see some of the vineyards that Adega Sernande has on the slope of Val do Frade on the northern bank of the Sil River. On the other hand, if we look straight up across the River, we will see the highest vineyards in the whole Ribeira Sacra that Adega Entre Cantos has planted in Torbeo, on the southern bank of the River.
Adega Sernande
This is the story of María José and Antonio, who are both natives to the area and where María José's father already made wine. As in any small project, wine is not their main source of income, so they maintain two jobs in Vigo with which to sustain their passion, preserving a philosophy uncontaminated by commercialism, being able to give life to wines in which they truly believe.
Their principles are based on recovering plots of old co-planted vineyards, aged between 60 and 80 years at least, working both owned and leased vineyards (since there are many elderly winegrowers who will never sell their vines despite of not being able to work on them). It is about changing the mentality and going back to the old, that is, looking for authentic vase planted vines, pruning them short again thus reducing their yields to obtain much higher quality grapes.
They do not use any herbicides or systemic treatments as they fertilise with hay, as it once was done in the area. The only input they give is a few coats of powdered sulfur when they need to get rid of fungal diseases. In the winery, they let each wine follow its course. They do not correct or chaptalize, since their correction is the natural co-plantation in the vineyard, because in the past wines were corrected in the vineyard by planting the varieties that will give you more acidity, or body, or color, etc.
We have two of their wines in stock at the moment:
So What!!! 2021: This cuvée is actually sourced from a vineyards located on Cristosende (southern shore of the River Sil but in the Amandi sub-zone) growing over pure granite soils. We are talking about really old vines in here (80+) of Mencía (which accounts for 90% of the blend) and Garnacha Tintorera. Because granite translates into freshness, at Adega Sernande they wanted to craft here that style of 'kind and gentle' red wines that locals drunk daily. Thus, it's made without pretenciousness, entirely in stainless steel. Herbal, berried, and mineral. Licence to chill a bit if you'd like that too.
Chanzos, 2021: Of that entire hillside (called Val do Frade) that we talked about at the beginning of this post, only two small plots will give life to this wine because, in them, the varieties they want are found: Mencía (80%) and Sousón (20%). Chanzos ferments in an open vat and is the only of their red that has that relationship with the old barrels to which Galician wines were so accustomed in the past, spending roughly 6 months in it. The soil here is pure schist, which gives more freshness to the wine. This 2021 is a mineral cuvée filled with that austere energy of those wines that are destined to be iconic. Forest fruits, pine, dried leaves and graphite. It has muscle but also nerve. Top wine.
Adega Entre Cantos
Roberto Rodríguez is a quite interesting character. A gourmand whose passion for wine and gastronomy has led him to set up his own delicatessen shop in Ourense first and a winery after. It all started back in 2017, when he bought a vineyard in the Ribeira Sacra after his uncle died, thus beginning to make wine with his own grapes.
His winery is located in Rairos, at the foot of the southern bank of the River Sil. This enclave was an ancient mining area where the Romans extracted gold. This is where both the winery and Barcelas are located, his 40-year-old vineyard that he had to recover for a few years because it had been worked quite aggressively. Despite having a good layer of organic matter, the complexity of the soils in this vineyard is spectacular since we find everything from pebbles to clays, slates and quartz.
Roberto is a devotee of biodynamics. He does not use any type of systemic in his vineyards, preferring the use of bio-fertilizers and magnesium bisulfite. In the vineyard he also plants legumes and lets the natural cover grow between the vines. In the winery, this care and affection is also reflected in the way of production: everything starts with spontaneous fermentations, he allows the wines undertake malolactic fermentation if they want to, he doesn't chaptalize, he doesn't make corrections of any kind and he works with very low sulfur levels. All the vinifications he makes kick off and end in barrel.
From Roberto we also stock two wines, which happen to be his foundational vintages for the white and the red (both sourced from that single plot, Barcelas):
Martiñolo Branco, 2018: This is a wine We're particularly fond of. It’s a blend of Godello and Caíño Blanco fermented and aged in big new barrels. Roberto likes Godello, but he considers that being a short cycle could mean a big drop in acidity if it's picked slightly late. Hence the addition of Caíño Blanco which is sharper, more vibrant and it even uplifts its aromatics. The wine is just beautiful. In the nose you have some sweet spices from the aging in oak but very well put together as it doesn’t cover its varietal identity. Loads of white stone fruits, bergamot, fresh quince skin, mirabelle plums, sage, and a subtle blossoming side to it. The mouthfeel is textural, wide, and super silky; ending up with a vertical backbone loaded with mineral inputs.
Martiñolo Tinto, 2019: This is a wine made practically entirely with Mencía (there is also a tiny percentage of co-planted Garnacha Tintorera). Roberto leaves 35% of the stems during the fermentation. The elevage was done in 3rd use barrels. The passage of time has tamed this cuvée very elegantly, giving us a silky wine in return, without lacking any of its identitarian freshness. There is a lot of nuances like dry leaves, bay leaves, pine, sour cherries, wild blackberries and tree bark. It's drinking superbly well right now.
At the shop we have some limited stocks from each of the labels, however, if interested on purchasing larger quantities please don't hesitate and send us an email: info@fionwines.co.uk
Director at Fìon, Edinburgh
#7 Harper's 50 Top Sommeliers UK 2024
Comments