2021 Forjas del Salnés "Leirana Finca Genoveva” Albariño, Rías Baixas, Spain

ABOUT THIS WINE

The unique winemaking techniques and talents of lifelong viticulturalist, Rodri Mendez, make for a very interesting project. This Albariño undergoes a process ranging from free run, natural must, to skin fermentation, to foudre fermentation to resting in a stainless steel tank.

100% Albariño. Vines planted in 1862. Tended in sandy and granite soil at 5 m (16 ft) elevation.

The wine is aged for 12 months in 4 year old large foudre of 2,500 lit. It is bottled unfined and lightly filtered.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

This humble garage winery collaboration, Forjas del Salnes, came to life in 2005 when vineyard owner and winemaker Rodrigo Mendez began to revitalize a little piece of Galician history that was quickly fading. Red wine in Rías Baixas was the way of the land back in the early 1900s. In the 1970s, when surrounding farmers were uprooting their less productive, less desirable red grapes in favor of planting increasingly popular Albariño grapes, the Mendez family was planting them. It all began in the early 2000s when Rodri's mission became clear: to execute his grandfather’s lifelong dream of grafting and replanting the nearly extinct, ancient coastal red vineyards in Val do Salnes and revive the nearly forgotten wines of his family’s history. Rodri is intent on pursuing this shift in the Galician trend. With his winemaking and vineyard knowledge and skill rooted in the past, Rodri remains conscious of the present while having a vision for the future, and is producing some of Spain’s finest Albariños and rare Galician reds. The unique winemaking techniques and talents of lifelong viticulturalist, Rodrigo Mendez, make for a very interesting project.