2022 Guímaro Tinto Mencía, Ribeira Sacra, Galicia, Spain

ABOUT THIS WINE

From multiple plots of Mencía vines with an average age of 40 years old, located in and around Ribeira Sacra. The grapes were harvested by hand and fermented in stainless steel tank with native yeasts. The wine rests in the same vessel for 8 months on the lees, then is bottled. No fining, light mechanical filtration, and small sulfur addition at bottling. 

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

Cultivated since Roman times, Ribeira Sacra’s steep terraced vineyards are some of the most picturesque and treacherous to work in the world of wine – think of the Douro, Cote Rotie, or the Mosel.  Like those most dramatic terruños, winegrowing here is not for the faint of heart; it takes spirited determination, eternal optimism, a sense of tradition, and a willingness to collaborate.  Pedro Rodríguez of Adegas Guímaro embodies all of these qualities. Pedro descends from a long line of winegrowers working in the Amandi area, Ribeira Sacra’s most prime subzone of south facing vineyards planted on local Losa slate, just above the river Sil. The previous generation, his parents Manolo and Carmen, still work with him in the vines. 

They named their winery Guímaro (meaning “rebel” in Gallego) a term which has a special connection to history of this area. Local traditions honor an ancient revolt when armed brotherhoods, called Irmandades, challenged the local feudal nobility in the Irmandiño wars of the 15th century. Masses of peasants and townsfolk tore down castles at Monforte de Lemos, Sandiás, and elsewhere in Galicia, but the better equipped nobles eventually suppressed the revolution. But the Irmandiño Wars have a particular resonance as a historical expression of rural Galician identity as independent, self-reliant, and locally focused: the Guímaros as local farmers fighting off interfering foreign nobles. In the beginning the Guímaro wines were simple jovenes, young wines that showed the slate-infused freshness of lush red fruit and supple texture, the kind of wines the area of Amandi was known for. They continue that tradition with their un-oaked Tinto, but the bodega’s focus (and ambition) has expanded over the years as Pedro improved the farming (consulting with famed Bierzo vigneron Raúl Pérez in the early 2000s) and dialed into the different vineyards that the family owns. At the same time, an interest in the region’s history led Pedro to embark on a massive project of planting heirloom grape varieties like Caiño, Brancellao, Merenzao (Trousseau), Sousón, Godello, Albariño and Treixadura.