Furanchos: The Original Natural Wine Bar?
What’s the difference between paying $18 a glass and 80 cents for wines that we can both call natural?
Vine Pruning in Galicia
Here’s a quick overview of the different vine training and pruning styles used in Galicia.
Galician Wine News Roundup
Here’s a rundown of the Galician wine news for March, translated to English for your convenience.
Reinventing Galicia
Miguel Crunia is a sommelier and founder of Edinburgh-based importer and online wine shop Fìon. He’s also a proud Gallego. His group ‘Grupo Orixe’ is advocating for a more terroir-based understanding of Galician wines, and even pushing for a new pyramid of quality based on villages and historic vineyards. We sat down to talk about the challenges of selling Galicia, how he tries to represent smaller wineries, and his vision for the Galicia of tomorrow.
Galicia is Home to 40% of Spain’s Winegrowers: Report
Galicia’s winegrowers make up 39.9% of the national total, making it the autonomous community with the largest number of growers. “The Economic and Social Importance of the Wine Sector in Galicia” confirms wine’s importance as a motor of the Galician economy and also reflects the role grape growing plays in stemming demographic losses sustained in rural Galicia.
From Bordeaux to Galicia: Dominique Roujou de Boubée
Dominique Roujou de Boubée is a winemaker, consultant, and adopted Gallego. He’s used his expertise to advise Galician wineries for over a decade as winemaker for As Bateas, Ponte da Boga, and most recently, an artisan project in O Rosal.
Galician Wine News Roundup
Here’s a rundown of the Galician wine news for February, translated to English for your convenience.
Xurxo Alba: El Capitán
Xurxo Alba quickly established himself as a rising star in Rías Baixas, working out of his family’s furancho-turned-winery Bodegas Almabar. Today, it’s safe to say that he stands among the region’s great growers and winemakers. From the home base in Rías Baixas, he’s gone on to create projects in Ribeira Sacra and Valdeorras.
Ribeira Sacra’s Growing Problems
Faced with excess production and no solution in sight, Ribeira Sacra needs to take steps to compete on a global scale and appeal to the modern consumer.
Galician Wine News Roundup
Here’s a rundown of some Galician wine news from the month of January, translated from the original Spanish (or Galician) for your convenience.
Guest Post: Is Ribeiro the Oldest Designated Winemaking Region in the World?
To kick off the year, I’m handing the keyboard over to my friend Miguel Crunia, a born and bred Galician and sommelier at Edinburgh-based online wine shop and importer FÌON. With no disrespect to the Douro (or Rust), Ribeiro has every right to be recognized as one of Europe’s oldest designated wine regions.
Galician Wine News Roundup
Here’s a rundown of some Galician wine news from the month of October, translated from the original Spanish (or Galician) for your convenience.
Luis Anxo Rodríguez: On Location in Ribeiro
I’ve been filming a video about the medieval terraces of Val do Avia with my friend Antonio Míguez Amil, and between having to take it easy on the gas pedal while driving up the serpentine roads that lead to Antonio’s vineyard, shooting the video, and catching up (I haven’t seen him for a year), we’re running late.
So I call him. “No problem! I’m at the optometrist!” he booms in rapid-fire Galician. “Come by when you’re done and we’ll go to the winery!”
On Location in Ribeiro with Antonio Míguez Amil
Antonio Míguez Amil probably knows more about Ribeiro than any person alive today. I call him the “wise man of Ribeiro” for his encyclopedic knowledge of the region’s history, terroir, and his dedication to recovering traditional vineyards and planting them with native grapes. He took me to one of the vineyards that he’s painstakingly recovering in San Lourenzo da Pena to talk about the history of Ribeiro and why these old vineyards are worth saving.
Galician Wine News Roundup
Here’s a rundown of some Galician wine news from the month of September, translated from the original Spanish (or Galician) for your convenience.
Is Organic Albariño Possible in Rías Baixas?
Natalia Rodriguez left her job as a lawyer to return to the countryside and try to make organic albariño. Twelve years later, she’s the first certified organic albariño producer in Rías Baixas. We sat down to talk about organic farming, the Condado do Tea, and what makes albariño special.
Albariño Day: How the Rías Baixas’ Biggest Party Got Started
Albariño Day is an all-you-can-eat-and-drink-without-bursting marathon, complete with concerts, fireworks, and maybe the occasional full-frontal nudity. It’s one of the reasons why Albariño from Rías Baixas is world-famous today, but most people don’t know its origin story…
10 Albariños to Know
The people who are bored with the “what grows together, goes together” narrative obviously haven’t been to Galicia, or drunk Albariño with shellfish by the sea in an old man bar in A Illa da Arousa, or seen fleets of bateas floating in the Ría de Pontevedra while they walk through trellised vineyards. This is all to say that if there’s a perfect pairing in this world, it’s Albariño and shellfish. The brine and the wine, baby. And if there’s a perfect Albariño, it comes from Galicia.
Treixadura, Viña Costeira, and Why Ribeiro Matters
Most people outside Spain couldn’t tell you what Ribeiro is—let alone rattle off producers’ names. The people who do know a bit more about Ribeiro can probably name about two winemakers, but can’t tell you much more than that…
How to Read a Galician Wine Label
You don’t need to speak Galician or have a degree in Spanish wine to correctly decipher a Galician wine label. Here are a few tips to help see what you’re drinking. Anatomy of a Wine Label Here are five key things to look for on a Galician wine label. 1. O Nome: The name of the …