Spain Emerging: Ribeira Sacra!
4/28/10 -
There is a phrase buried in Julian Jeffs' comprehensive book on Spain that subtly praises Ribeira Sacra as "potentially among the best vineyards in the world." The Romans who built the original terraces there, according to legend, must have sensed the magic of the land. They were known to have valued the wines particularly of Amandi, the prime sub-zone of Ribeira Sacra, and brought the wines on their long journeys back to Rome to be served at the emperor's table. Although Amandi was the most prized, there are four other sub-regions along the various bends and turns of the two rivers, Minyo and Sil, which provide various sun exposures, soil compositions and weather patterns. This creates a tremendously diverse spectrum of terroirs for the local Mencia grape to express. The local monasteries kept this area alive when the Galicia region was one of the poorest of Spain and considered to be the backwoods to the rest of the country. Along with the monasteries, many farmers worked very small parcels since Galician land holding laws were similar to those of Burgundy. Most worked organically (according to Denomanacion Origen website), and historically made wine by a crude method using dug-out stone tanks. After fermentations, farmers would taste each others wines and one or two would be considered miracles of nature each vintage - very Galician.
Ribeira Sacra is presently experiencing resurgence, and capital is being injected into the region by local sons and daughters who have emigrated and nostalgically returned to their family’s plots to explore the potential of their local wines. It's always local varieties there, mostly Mencia for reds and Godello for whites, and other even lesser known varieties. These wines are sparking curiosity in terroir-loving wine circles. Those of us who have traveled to the area are further convinced that the ancient people who built these terraces were on to something. With ears to the slate ground we wait to see what will happen next. What will emerge? There a number of promising answers to that question, and our offering is a mini overview of what is exciting right now, with an emphasis on the Lalama a new wine from Dominio do Bibei of the Quiroga-Bibei sub-zone. They are experimenting with bio-dynamics, and prefer an overall organic approach in the vineyard, the philosophy is to promote the most natural processes for wine-making. Everything in the winery is done by gravity, native yeasts are employed, there is not a stainless steel tank in sight, but a preference for foudres, cement tanks and second and third-use barrique. The results are wines of tremendous balance and purity with striking aromatics and weightless texture.
