Daterra ViticultoresAs recently as the early 2000’s, outside of a few name brand Albariños from Rías Baixas most wines and terruños of Galicia were unknown to average wine lovers. Ribeiro was mainly thought of as cheap table wine, a couple producers from Valdeorras were just starting to emerge, and Ribeira Sacra was a complete unknown. It was during this time that the young and talented Laura Lorenzo was honing her craft as a fine winemaker and organic viticulturist, while gathering the expertise to put the Val do Bibei in Ribeira Sacra on the map.
“No one has seen a woman like this in the vines of Galicia, and I’m not sure they’re ready for her.”– Alice Feiring
Hailing from Allariz in the province of Ourense, Laura remembers always loving wine as a kid. So much so that she decided, at the tender age of 16, to become a winemaker and enroll in the local enology school. Upon graduation, she worked at the nearby Adega Cachín, and then overseas with Eben Sadie in South Africa and Achaval Ferrer in Argentina. After her various apprenticeships, Laura took over the reins at Dominio do Bibei, a pioneering producer of fine wine in the Quiroga-Bibei subzone of Ribeira Sacra. Laura worked there for 10 years developing a style of winemaking that was fine-tuned to the hillsides of the region, specifically to the terruño around the village of Manzaneda. In 2014 Laura struck out on her own, and formed Daterra Viticultores. This is how she describes her project: “Daterra Viticultores owes its name to the many women and men who have spent the course of their lives on the Manzaneda mountainsides in the Bibei valley cultivating these vines, and who entrust Laura Lorenzo to carry on their culture.”
The most southeast of the 5 Ribeira Sacra subzones, the Quiroga-Bibei terruño is also one of the most diverse. The landscape is rugged and sparse, with steep terraced and un-terraced vineyards overlooking the Bibei, Jares, and Navea rivers. Here the climate of the Atlantic intertwines with warm continental influences. In the lowest elevation vineyards, the vegetation and climate seems almost Mediterranean, with olive trees and herbs such as lavender and thyme growing wild. Granite is the dominant soil type, complimented by slate, clay, gneiss and sand. There are many grapes planted here not often seen in other parts of Ribeira Sacra or Galicia, such as Mouraton and Colgadeira. The diversity and beauty is breathtaking. Laura has pieced together 4.5 hectares of rented and owned vineyards with the majority of the parcels 80-120 years old. She produces a wide range of wines, from a Ribeira Sacra regional wine called Portela do Vento, to Manzaneda village wines called Erea, Gavela, and Azos de Vila, to single parish or vinos de parroquia wines such as Azos de Pobo Soutipedre, with single parcel wines on the horizon. For her estate vineyards, Laura describes her farming as “agro-ecology with minimal impact.” She works with techniques that nurture life in the soils that have been decimated by years of industrial agriculture, to create a healthy and thriving ecosystem for her old bush vines. All work is carried out manually, with some biodynamic preparations utilized. In the winery, Laura’s winemaking is decidedly low tech and non-interventionist. She ferments with native yeasts and works with little sulfur. The wine is moved by gravity whenever possible, and the wines are not fined or filtered. Laura and Daterra’s over-arching philosophy: “We seek for the future through agriculture, which means years of work in the vineyard…our grapes give good information, and let us know where the wine wants to go." The Wines
Gavela da Vila is comprised of 100% old vine Palomino organically farmed at a variety of elevations and expositions on sandy granite soils in the Val do Bibei. The grapes are hand-harvested, fermented in 1000L chestnut foudre with about 2 weeks of skin maceration and raised on the lees in the same vessel for 11 months. The wine is not clarified, cold stabilized or filtered, and only minimal SO2 added at bottling.
Gavela do Pobo is comprised of 100% old vine Palomino organically farmed at a variety of elevations and expositions in the Val do Bibei, on schist and slate soils. The grapes are hand-harvested, destemmed and fermented in amphorae with about 2 weeks of skin maceration, and raised on the lees in the same vessels for 11 months. The wine is not clarified, cold stabilized or filtered, and only minimal SO2 added at bottling. Erea de Vila is comprised of 80-120 year old vines of mostly Godello, along with Doña Blanca and Colgadeira, planted in the Quiroga-Bibei subzone of Ribeira Sacra. 90% percent of the grapes were destemmed; the grapes were pressed and left on the skins to rest for a short time; the wine was then fermented in old barrels with wild yeasts, then raised for 6 months in older 225 liters barrels. Azos de Vila comes from the village of Manzaneda, where there are very old mixed plantings of 80-120 years, with the oldest vines planted on their own rootstock. This cuvée is a field blend of Mouraton, Mencía, Garnacha Tintorera, Merenzao, Gran Negro, etc. The grapes were destemmed and fermentated with wild yeasts in old, open-top French oak barrels, then raised for 11 months in a mix of used 225 and 500 liter barrels. Azos de Pobo comes from the parish or pueblo of Soutipedre within the village of Manzaneda, where there are very old mixed plantings of 80-120 years, with the oldest vines planted on their own rootstock. This cuvée is comprised of 50% Gran Negro and Garnacha Tintorera, with the balance being Mouraton, Mencía, Merenzao, etc. The grapes were destemmed and foot-trodden, fermented in open-top used 500 and 225 liter barrels, and then raised for 11 months in used 225 liter barrels. Azos de Paraxe Alicante Bouschet comes from a vineyard in Val de Rodrigo within the Bibei Valley, and is harvested separately from the other varieties. The grapes are hand-harvested, wild yeast fermented with a short skin maceration in a used 225L French oak barrel. The wine is then raised for 12 months in the same barrel, and bottled without fining or filtration, and minimal SO2. This Alicante Bouschet is a bright, spicy and mineral-driven mountain red, with a deep core of dark fruit. Val de Rodrigo (Formerly Azos de Paraxe Mencía) comes from a vineyard in Val de Rodrigo within the Bibei Valley, and is harvested separately from the other varieties. The grapes are hand-harvested, wild yeast fermented with about 2 weeks of skin maceration in a used 225L French oak barrel. The wine is then raised for 12 months in the same barrel, and bottled without fining or filtration, and minimal SO2. This Mencía is round, rich and full of ripe red fruit and spice. A Galga comes From an ancient terraced (up to 120-year-old vines) vineyard of native varieties (Mencía, Mouraton, Bastardo, Alicant Bouschet, Gran Negro, Goedello, Doña Blanca, Colgadeira and Palomino) that Laura purchased in 2018. The vineyard’s soils are granitic with a sandy texture. About 80% of the grapes were destemmed, then fermented together in open-top wood vats for about 2 weeks with their skins. Fermentation completed, the wine was pressed to rest for a year in chestnut barrels. Bottled without fining, filtering, and with only a tiny addition of SO2. Casas de Enriba comes from Laura's own two south-facing parcels of young Mencía on granite with a mix of gravel, clay, gneiss, quartz, etc. The grapes are hand-harvested 2 weeks earlier than her Bibei vineyards for added acidity, partially destemmed and fermented with wild yeasts in used 500L French oak barrels, with only 4 days of skin maceration. The wine is then raised in the same barrels for 10 months and bottled without fining or filtration. Portela do Vento Blanco comes from several parcels of native white varieties primarily Manzaneda in the Val do Bibei (north & northeast-facing old vines) subzone. The grapes were harvested by hand, destemmed into used chestnut barrels wild yeast fermentation with about 3 weeks of skin maceration. The wine was then raised for 12 months in the same vessels and bottled without fining or filtration. Portela do Vento Godello comes from several parcels of Godello near A Rue in Valdeorras. The grapes were harvested by hand, destemmed into used chestnut barrels for wild yeast fermentation with about 4 weeks of skin maceration. The wine was then raised for 12 months in the same vessels and bottled without fining or filtration. Portela do Vento Rosado comes from Mencía located in the Amandi subzone around Sober, and is bled off the red wine Laura uses to make the Portela Tinto. The grapes are harvested by hand, partially destemmed and fermented with native yeast in used 500L French oak barrels with 6 hours of skin maceration. The wine is then raised for 10 months in smaller barrels and bottled without fining or filtration. Portela do Vento Tinto comes from several south-facing parcels of Mencía and Garnacha Tintorera in the Amandi and Quiroga-Bibei subzones. The grapes were harvested by hand and mostly destemmed, fermented with wild yeasts in steel vats, and raised for 9 months in used 500 liter French barrels. Tabernario Due to extremely adverse weather in 2018, Laura and Alvaro lost almost all of their fruit that goes into the Gavela, Erea and Azos wines. Thus was born Tabernario, half of which comes from the surviving Val do Bibei Mencía & Palomino, plus Alicante Bouschet & Mencía from the Amandi (which typically go into Portela do Vento). The grapes were harvested by hand and 50% destemmed, skin-macerated for 10 days and spontaneously fermented in 500L & 1000L chestnut barrels. The wine was then raised for 11 months and bottled without fining or filtration, and only minimal additions of SO2. Tabernaria is 50% Brancellao and 50% Mencía. The grapes for Tabernaria come from a variety of different vineyards that Laura works with, changing every year. This wine is a blend of bits that didn’t go into other wines. In 2019, it is made up of equal parts direct press Brancellao and Mencía with 6 hours of skin contact. Aged in used barrels of 500 and 225 liters. Camino de la Frontera Blanco comes from Angel Mayor’s ancient, northwest-facing vineyard in the Parque Natural de Los Arribes del Duero, and made from mostly Malvasia & Verdejo balanced with a little Puesta en Cruz and Palomino (all co-planted with the red grapes). The grapes are hand-harvested, destemmed and partially pressed after about a week of skin contact, wild yeast fermented and raised in used chestnut barrels and clay amphoras for 12 months. Camino de la Frontera Rosado comes from Angel Mayor’s ancient, northwest-facing vineyard in the Parque Natural de Los Arribes del Duero, planted to mostly Juan Garcia & Tinta Madrid (aka Tempranillo) balanced by other indigenous varieties. The grapes are hand-harvested, partially destemmed and wild yeast fermented in used 500L French oak barrels with 8 hours of skin maceration. The wine is then racked into 225L used French barrels plus a 1000L chestnut cask and aged for 10 months before bottling without fining or filtration. Camino de la Frontera Tinto comes from Angel Mayor’s ancient, northwest-facing vineyard in the Parque Natural de Los Arribes del Duero, planted to mostly Juan Garcia & Tinta Madrid (aka Tempranillo) balanced by other indigenous varieties. The grapes are hand-harvested, 50% foot-trodden whole-cluster and 50% destemmed, wild yeast fermented in used 500L French oak barrels and a new 2000L foudre with about 2 weeks of skin maceration, then raised in the same vessels for 12 months. |
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