Lomba dos Ares - Mencia & Co (Ribeira Sacra)

Mencía, Grao Negro, Negreda, Garnacha Tintorera, Bastardo & Aramón | fieldblend | druiven van granieten terroirs | niet ontsteeld | langzame vergisting zonder veel 'beweging van de hoed' | 10 maanden rijping op hout van 300, 500 en 3200l | lichte kleur | heel puur en delicaat | wijn à la Dani landi / Envinate | veel sap | kersen | kruiden 

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

This is a blend of plots along the Bibei River, and it's just one third Mencia together with other varieties. Concentrated and fresh with crunchiness and subtle reduction. Nice grippy structure here with good acidity. Linear and complex with some depth but also lovely richness. 94/100 Jamie Goode

Like the white Conasbrancas, the red 2018 Lomba dos Ares is a village wine produced with grapes from different parishes of Manzaneda (Soutipedre, Seoane and Langullo), where the old vineyards are all planted with a mix of grapes—Mencía, Grao Negro, Negreda, Garnacha Tintorera, Bastardo, Aramón... So, this is a village field blend that fermented at low temperature (below 20 degrees Celsius) with full clusters and indigenous yeasts, with a total maceration time of around 60 days. It matured in used 300- and 500-liter French oak barrels and a 3,200-liter oak vat for 10 months. I see a lot of finesse here, with notes of blood oranges, flowers and red berries, and it's very focused, aromatic and expressive, less reductive than previous years. There's more precision here; the palate is focused, clean and very tasty, with very fine tannins and a citrus, effervescent finish. 7,000 bottles were filled in December 2019. 94/100 Luis Gutiérrez

Fedellos do Couto is now consolidated as one of the quality leaders of Ribeira Sacra. But as is often the case, they sell the wines without appellation of origin due to the enormous bureaucratic problems the controlling body was creating, rejecting the wines because they don't follow the standardized style they are used to. And Fedellos do Couto is not the only winery with this experience; Envínate and Raúl Pérez had suffered the same problems, and Laura Lorenzo and Sílice were never part of the appellation for the same reason. If you consistently kick out the quality leaders from the appellation, something must be wrong. Given the success of their red Cortezada in 2019, they have started producing a new 100% Mencía from the banks of the Bibei River, one of the subzones of Ribeira Sacra. But for now I tasted the four 2018s, one of the finest vintages in the region, and for many young producers, the best in their career. It was a cold and rainy year, with about three weeks of delay in the vegetative cycle. The summer, which is key, started cool and wet but finished dry and warm, which helped with the harvest of some of the best fruit ever. Something to get excited about! They currently produce around 25,000 bottles per vintage.