Sílice Viticultores Sober, Ribeira Sacra, Galicia, Spain In a world (Galicia) where some establishments still insist on foisting heavily oaked rioja on you, it comes as a very pleasant surprise when more and more clued in bar and restaurant owners stock vigneron wines from the Ribeira Sacra, Valdeorras, Monterrei and Rías Baixas regions. An…
With a name that’s guaranteed to raise a titter among Galician and Portuguese speakers, Fai un Sol de Carallo 2013 is the latest high end D.O. Ribeiro to seduce punctilious palates across the Atlantic, achieving an impressive 93 points in Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. Galicia, in Spain’s verdant misty north west is definitely not the…
Nacho León is a visionary. His Demencia de Autor wine is fast gaining devotees around the world, yet the guy works out of a rented warehouse near Villafranca del Bierzo. People have been making wine here in El Bierzo since Roman times and more or less continually since the 9th century. It’s the last stop…
Anyone heard of CERVIM? I hadn’t till today. I happened to come across the name whilst googling ‘Albarín Blanco’, an endangered grape variety native to Asturias and León in the north of Spain. The organisation was founded in Italy in 1987 and its noble mission, the research, protection and advancement of mountain viticulture, known in…
If anybody is planning to visit Galicia in the coming months and wants to experience the age-old tradition of drinking red country wine from a white porcelain bowl (CUNCA), don’t forget to order a bottle of ‘TINTO BARRANTES’. The European Union, in its infinite wisdom, has banned the growing of the hybrid grape (HDP) used…