RED WINE

After devastating frost in 2017 and killer mildew in 2018, the vintage for the red 2019 Gaba do Xil Tinto from Valdeorras was healthier and the crop was good, save for some hail in specific vineyards during the summer. It was a ripe, healthy and balanced year. This is a young, unoaked Mencía with 13.44% alcohol that fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel, where it matured for 12 months before bottling. It's intensely aromatic and expressive, varietal and with the wild rusticity of the zone. The palate is medium-bodied, with very fine tannins and a soft mouthfeel. 96,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2020. LUIS GUTIRREZ, Robert Parker

On the nose, soft red fruits are alive with granite and herbs. All the key Valdeorras Mencia tells are here: floral-fragrant, touches of smoke and meat, gentle fruit tannin and a herb-acid tang to finish. Gaba is energetic and fresh, rounded with lovely crunch, featuring caponata-fleshiness and also a touch of cracked white pepper.

Comprising of almost all Mencía with just a dash of Tempranillo and Sousón, this expressive, light bodied wine captures the very essence of Ribeira Sacra, grown on slopes above the River Sil so vertiginous they can only be worked by hand. Flavours of blueberries, blackcurrants, and herbs with fresh, lifted acidity. BARRICA WINES