 Valdeorras, named the “valley of gold” thanks to its wealth of natural resources, is a region with a deep history of winegrowing. The Romans planted vines here over 2,000 years ago - the first vineyards to be planted in Galicia - and the region attained Denominación de Origen status way back in 1945, making Valdeorras one of Spain’s oldest appellations. Yet it wasn’t until the 1980’s that a small band of intrepid producers made serious efforts to reclaim Valdeorras’ storied past. They started their quest by tearing out the high-yielding Palomino and Garnacha Tintorera vines that were planted during the early decades of Spain’s tumultuous 20th century - and smartly replanting the indigenous Godello. Building on the work of those innovators of the 80’s and 90’s, Victor Fernandez founded Viña Somoza in 2001 with the goal of bringing his estate into the “avant-garde” of Galician winegrowing. To this end, Victor eventually brought on the talented Viñador Javier Garcia of 4 Monos fame to oversee the estate’s evolving approach, starting with the 2015 vintage... You can learn more about the new Viña Somoza, Valdeorras diverse yet little-known terruño and Javier's minimalist approach in the vines and in the cellar, here. Comments are closed.
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