Conasbrancas - Godello, Doña Blanca & co.
50% Godello, 25% Doña Branca & 25% mix met Treixadura, Colgadeira, Albariño and Palomino | verschillende oude wijngaarden in de Val do Bibei in Valdeorras | 80% vergist in barrique | 20% hele trossen in plastic kuipen | rijping voor 8 maanden in 300 en 500 liter gebruikt Frans eiken | weelderig | puut | pit | kruidig | witte bloemen | zout | wijn-spijs top
Fedellos do Couto & Peixes
Sinds 2013 zijn Curro en Jesús samen met Luis Tobada gestart met hun Fedellos do Couto project. De wijngaarden waar de opbrengsten eerst van werden verkocht wordt hier nu wijn gemaakt. Op de zeven hectare grond die zij bewerken staan soms wel acht tot negen druivenrassen door elkaar! Het gebied Ribeira Sacra staat bekend om zijn prachtige natuur. Scherpe kliffen, riviertjes en beekjes en flinke rotspartijen. Later komen daar wijngaarden in de DO Ribeiro bij op grote hoogte. Karakteristieke wijnen met karakter en puurheid!
Review
The very cloudy barrel fermented and aged white 2022 Conasbrancas was produced with the grapes from a number of field blends on both sides of the Bibei River, in Manzaneda and Larouco. It feels quite wild and raw but graceful and stylized. In 2021, they changed the way they produce this wine; they do a short maceration, and after three or four days, they press and ferment. This year, it's unusually cloudy because it was a year with lots of protein and they do not filter or clarify. But the wine is serious and vibrant, medium-bodied, with a moderate 12% alcohol, with very good freshness and great balance, despite coming from a very dry (more than warm) year, with a very short harvesting window. It feels quite different from previous years, and they feel it shows more the character; it has an austere stony sensation in the palate, naked, without the influence from the skins, keeping the verticality. Delicious and characterful. 10,000 bottles were produced. It was bottled in May 2023. 94/100 Luis Gutiérrez
Fedellos do Couto and Peixes have definitely merged into one single project, Fedellos. They work in the Bibei Valley, part inside Ribeira Sacra, part in Valdeorras and part outside the limits, and they sell the wines without appellations. I tasted wines from different vintages. 2020 was not too warm, and the plants had good availability of water from the season; 2021 was cold and rainy, the coldest for them; and 2022 was super dry (more than warm, as Galicia doesn't get as warm as in other parts of Spain). In total, they now produce 40,000 bottles.