Lomba dos Ares - 2020
Fedellos do Couto
- Region
- Spain » Vino de Mesa
- Type
- red still, dry
- Producer
- Fedellos do Couto
- Vintage
- 2020
- Grapes
- Mencía
- Alcohol
- 13
- Volume
- 750 mL
- Cellar
- not available
Lomba dos Ares is a village wine from their oldest and steepest vineyards on the west bank of the Bibei river. Practically a field blend from ~70 years old vines. These grapes are grown on granite, schist, and sand soils. The altitude is 450–650 meters. Lomba dos Ares in a natural yeast co-fermentation of all used varieties aged in foudre and a few neutral 300-500L French oak barrels.
Ratings
This vintage has been a recurring delight in my glass, finally prompting a well-deserved review. The wine offers a charming and warm bouquet, brimming with ripe red fruits such as plum, raspberry, and sweet cherry. These are combined with pencil lead, spices, wet forest floor, and a note of old socks (lol?). The palate continues with a fruity-mineral profile, featuring flavours of ripe plum and pencil lead. This wine is neatly complex, yet undeniably delicious, with a velvety, well-balanced texture. It resonates with my taste, making it impossible not to simply enjoy its engaging character.
Fedellos do Couto
There are few viticultural regions as dramatic, wild, and diverse as Ribeira Sacra. Being a boundary between the cool, rainy Atlantic coast and Spain's hot, dry interior, Ribeira Sacra enjoys the best and the worst of the two domains. The main threats to viticulture are the storms that blow in from the Atlantic, bringing plenty of rain and wind; and morning fogs. A paradise for fungus. And yet people grow vines and make wines here. Some locals even practice organic and biodynamic farming. And that's truly heroic.
Ribeira Sacra is currently one of the most talked-about places in the wine world, not only for its scenery but for affordable, refreshing, and complex wines made from indigenous varieties like Mencía (a sleeker expression than in Bierzo), Mourantón, Garnacha Tintorera (widely planted after phylloxera), Caño, Bastardo (a.k.a. Trousseau), Grao Negro, Sousón, Godello, Doña Blanca, Palomino, and other grapes. Not the most popular and known bunch, isn't it?
Luis Taboada comes from an old family that owned Pazo do Couto, an ancient manor dating to the 12th century that produced a wide array of agricultural products. Recognizing the value of his ancient, north- and east-facing vineyards, he teamed up with viticulturist Pablo Soldavini, a proponent of organic farming and winemakers Curro Bareño and Jesús Olivares to found Fedellos do Couto in 2011. According to PanLex, Fedellos roughly translates as 'brats'. So the name of the winery is - Brats from Couto (estate).
Curro Bareño and Jesús Olivares are also known for Ca' di Mat and Peixes. After parting (when?) their ways with Luis Taboada leaving DO Ribeira Sacra (deemed atypical!), they decided to merge Fedellos do Couto with Peixes to become a single project - Fedellos.