The Nairoa winery, located in the valley of the river Arnoia, is one of the Ribeiro wineries that is flying the flag for Treixadura, the dominant variety of the denomination of origin. The company has four blends on the market with Treixadura as a reference and in 2018 will launch a single-varietal wine from this grape. “This is a variety that brings distinction and elegance to the wines” – Nairoa’s director, Guillermo Diez states-. “It has now started to be recognised in the wine world and we are gradually putting Treixadura in the place it deserves in the Ribeiro”.

The winery’s main commitment in the market is focused on “Alberte”, a wine that combines 85% Treixadura with 10% of Albariño and 5% Lado a native grape of the Arnoia region, where the winery is located. “Each grape has certain characteristics, the Lado is a grape that provides freshness to the wine, while Albariño above all provides aromatic components,” stresses Guillermo Diez. “With the assembly of the three varieties, we achieve the wine that we seek which gains in complexity and interest.”

From “Alberte”, the winery annually launches on the market about 60,000 bottles, out of a total of almost 200,000 that it produces each year. “It is a wine that is engaging the attention in international markets, such as the United Kingdom, Mexico, the United States or Sweden, among others We have the capacity for growth, but we are interested in taking care of the quality more than the amount,” says the winery’s director.

Nairoa primarily works with small wine growers of Ribeiro, who maintain a stable relationship of collaboration with the winery, in controlled vineyards where the quality of the grapes is rewarded. The winery opts for autochthonous varieties, which it uses exclusively in its two main brands, the aforementioned Alberte and Val of Nairoa, a blended variety of Treixadura, Albariño, Loureira and Lado with a manufacturing process that includes the freezing of the grape’s skin.

The freezing process, which the winery exclusively uses, consists in putting the grapes in a freezing tunnel before their processing. “With this system we manage to break down the skin structure so that there is a greater contribution of aromas and tannins to the wine. It is a taste that the public looking who is for something different really likes. People who try it usually comment that it reminds them of a wine aged on lees, which is an opinion that I share, or even relate this wine with an aging in barrels, when it does not have any of these processes”, explains Guillermo Diez.

Awards
The characteristics of Val of Nairoa earned it 90 points in the prestigious International Robert Parker Guide. The winery has received many awards in recent years, although the one that they most proudly display is the first prize in the Popular Wine Tasting of the Feira do Ribeiro 2016. “It is a blind tasting where consumers taste the different wines and choose which they like best. The awards that a specialist jury give us are important, but this award is unique as it is given by consumers, and this especially excites us”, recognises Guillermo Diez.

The offer of the winery’s whites is completed with two mid-range wines, Val de Couso and Nairoa, which combines a base of Treixadura with a percentage of authorised Ribeiro varieties, such as Torrontes. “In certain markets, these are the wines that are of most interest. We find for example that in Japan, Nairoa is the wine that best works”, they tell us at the winery.

The main market share of the winery is located in Galicia, with around 60% of sales, while 25% of its wine is sold in the rest of Spain and 15% at international level. With regards to the Spanish market, in Nairoa they highlight the prestige that Galician white wines have attained, a recognition where the seals of the Galician denominations of origin contribute as, in the case of Nairoa, as well the Galicia Calidade seal, which is already recognised and valued by the consumer.

Projects
The winery is working on the launch of new wines on the market. One of the most immediate is the single varietal wine of Treixadura, which will be expected to go on sale next April. “The market erroneously calls for the new vintages too quickly, but we think that the ideal time to launch Ribeiro wines is not before March-April,” said Guillermo Diez-. “In fact, one of our wines, the Val of Nairoa, is even a second year wine, not a young wine,” he remarks.

Another of Nairoa hopes is a white on lees, which it has been evaluating for a couple of years and will be bottled under the Alberte brand. While the winery has clearly opted for white wines, it also sells a blended red wine called “Terralonga” and will complete its offer of red wines with the launch in 2018 of an “Alberte” red wine, which will be made with a blend of Mencia and Brancellao.

The Altos de Torona vineyard, located in Vilachan (Tomiño, Pontevedra), is unique in the panorama of Galician viticulture, identified by smallholdings. There are nearly a hundred hectares in a single estate, making it the largest vineyard in the Rias Baixas. The plot was planted around 2000, after the HGA group completed the purchase of private land and an agreement with a forestry community.

The location of the vineyard, located mid-slope, about 200-300 metres above sea level, is south facing and next to the mouth of the river Miño, and was thought to be suitable for wine production. Time is confirming the potential of the vineyard, as international awards have been forthcoming in the past few years.

The estate was mainly planted with Albariño, although the decision was also taken to maintain the distinguishing sign of the wines of the sub-zone of O Rosal (DO Rías Baixas), characterised by the use of other varieties of white grapes. The Altos de Torona Rosal 2013, an Albariño that includes small percentages of Loureiro and Caiño Blanco, was distinguished as being the best white in Spain at the International Wine Challenge 2014, one of the most important competitions at international level.

“Altos de Torona Rosal is a fruity wine, with a sweet touch and a soft palate that makes it different from the traditional 100% Albariños”

“Altos de Torona Rosal is a fruity wine, with a sweet touch and a soft palate that makes it different from the traditional 100% Albariños” they explain at the winery.

The 2017 edition of the International Wine Challenge, which is held in London, gave another six awards to Altos de Torona, the most important being the gold medal for Altos de Torona Albariño 2016, a young 100% Albariño grown on the Vilachan estate, in Tomino.

Another of the company’s Albariños is Pazo de Villarei, produced from grapes that are bought from Salnés winegrowers who had already been regularly working with that brand.

Markets
The winery is characterised by offering a wide range of wines, in search of different types of consumers and restaurant markets. The result of this concern to innovate is the Albariños in French oak barrels and on lees. One of the first 100% Godellos of Rias Baixas was also theirs and they also produce red wines from the Brancellao, Sousón and Caiño Tinto varieties.

“The Altos de Torona Barrel, 100% Albariño has a reduced production (1,500 bottles), but there are consumers who are beginning to ask for whites from the barrel. We can produce these minority wines because we have a winery and a team ready for these innovations,” Oscar Martínez emphasizes.

Altos de Torona sells about half of its production in Galicia, while the rest is distributed among other areas of Spain and for export. “The growth potential of Albariño and our winery in particular is immense both in Spain and at international level,” they highlight at the winery, which has the Galicia Calidade seal and that stresses the international prestige attained by the DO Rias Baixas.

HGA Group
Altos de Toronas is owned by the HGA group, with another winery in the Ribeira Sacra denomination of origin, Regina Viarum, which allows it to complement the offering of Rías Baixas Albariño white wines with the Mencias of the Ribeira Sacra. In addition to having two own wineries, Altos de Torona and Regina Viarum, the group also produces wines in other denominations from agreements with various wineries.

Bodegas Ruchel is a winery from Vilamartin de Valdeorras that has been in the market for nearly three decades. It started in 1989 with an initial launch 10,000 bottles of Godello, the wine on which the start of the company was focused. From 1998 it also incorporated Mencia and currently it has an production of about 200,000 bottles, more than three quarters are of Godello, the remainder being shared between Mencia and a small production of Garnacha.

The winery is committed to a philosophy of searching for wines “with the aroma of the earth”. “We supply ourselves from vineyards of individual partners and wine growers, but we are looking for them to have a common feature, hillside vineyards on granite or slaty soils, with poor soil,” they tell us in Ruchel-. “We believe that in such conditions, the vine extracts elements from the ground that allow for more aromas of wine in the mouth. They are vineyards with less production, but with more quality,” they value.

“In Valdeorras, everyone has their own philosophy. We try to maintain the tradition of our grandparents, when the vineyard was planted in soil where potatoes could not be grown, that is to say, in soils without humus, with little organic matter”, they point out.

Ranges

Most of the production of the winery is reflected in Godellos and young Mencia, marketed under the brands Ruchel and Ruchel Secretos. The company also seeks to promote a high range, focused on selected and crianza wines.

In Godello, it produces a wine with selected strains that are at least 50 years old. “These are vineyards of which there are few in Valdeorras, because the Godello began to recover from 1980’s. These old vines have a low production but provide a grape with a differentiating characteristics,” they explain. The Godello, which is marketed under the brand name Cueva Baladal, is allowed to rest on the lees and is finished off with a one-month aging in oak barrels.

The Cueva Baladal brand refers to a family cave where, as was common in the region, the wine was preserved in olden times, as these were places that provided a constant temperature. In the future, the winery has also planned to market its Mencia crianza and Garnacha crianza under this brand, in an attempt to position both the white and red wines in a higher segment of the market.

“Godello wine is very round on the palate, with many aromas and became fashionable, but even so, we see that it is a little undervalued, so we are trying to find a way to position it in a higher segment,” they indicate from Ruchel.

The winery’s market focuses both in Galicia and the rest of Spain, with a small part dedicated to being exported to countries such as the United States and Belgium. In its positioning outside of Galicia, the winery benefits from the Galicia Calidade seal, which contributes to the wine being identified with its source, thus achieving greater recognition.

In its positioning outside of Galicia, the winery benefits from the Galicia Calidade seal, which contributes to the wine being identified with its source, thus achieving greater recognition

A Coroa Godello 2016 is well on its way to becoming one of the Galician wines with the most awards this year, both at the national and international level. This single variety wine of the Valdeorras Denomination of Origin which uses ‘reina’ grapes, has just been awarded the Gold Medal at the international wine competition Mundus Vini in Germany and the 2017 Gold Bacchus in the Spanish Bacchus Awards.

“The awards corroborate that our commitment to quality is a good move and should also be the future strategy for the Valdeorras Denomination of Origin,” says Marta Sertaje Nogueira, the person responsible for the exports of Adega A Coroa, a family vineyard that employs 9 people directly and that from 2014 is also part of the Galicia Calidade seal.

Marta Sertaje Nogueira tells us the secrets of this winery that already exports 50% of its production and that made the commitment to quality its sign of identity.

Your A Coroa Godello 2016 is reaping awards in national and international competitions. What is the key to this success?
Our way of working is the same and the variations are due to the different types of weather during that year. In this sense, and despite the fact that 2016 was complicated in weather terms, the experts and the general public liked our wine, in which we put all our dedication. For us it is a pride and reaffirms that our philosophy of committing to quality rather than the quantity is the right thing.

In this sense, you are the only winery of the DO. Valdeorras that limits its production below the maximum allowed by the Regulatory Council. Why do you forego attaining maximum production?
In 2010 the Regulatory Council approved the inclusion of certified wines by controlled production. In this way, if the Regulatory Council right now allows up to 12,500 kg to be harvested per hectare, in Godello wineries like us that are certified in controlled production the maximum allowed is 8,000 kilograms per hectare of vineyard. We were the first winery that started with controlled production in Valdeorras and we remain the only that has taken this up.

For us it was a commitment to quality. We have a relatively young vineyard, our vines have an average of 30 years, and as our philosophy was to obtain quality, we chose to have less production to achieve better bunches of grapes, which is transferred to the wine, and also helps to extend the longevity of the strains and to improve their health status.

Over these years you have been expanding your wine catalogue. What you have on the market right now?
In total we sell some 90,000 bottles per year, of which 75,000 are A Coroa, a blend of Godello grapes from our plots, another 8,000 are A Coroa LÏAS; from 200 Cestos, a Godello from a plot in the sub-area of Bibei, we produce some 6,000 bottles; and we also offer a red wine, Ladeira Vella, from century-old vines of Garnacha Tintorera, from which we market some 1,500 bottles.

Since 2002, when we launched the winery, to 2009 we only had a single brand, A Coroa, and due to customer demand we are expanding our catalogue.

You are also one of the wineries of the Valdeorras Denomination of Origin that sells the most abroad. What are the keys to success in the internationalisation of wines with a small winery like this?
Right now we sell 50% outside Spain, especially to the United States and Puerto Rico, and also in Europe to the Netherlands, UK, Germany and Denmark, among others.

Three or four years ago we saw that Valdeorras and the Godello variety are in fashion. From the start we committed to doing things well and to producing quality wines and we are starting to reap the benefits.

The key to export is hard work, making investments and having continuity. The base part is taking care of the vines and looking after them every day because the wine is made in the vineyard. In our winery we have 4 people who are in the field every day and that is very important so that the strains are in good condition and we can achieve the best bunches of grapes.

Currently you have 16 hectares in production. Do you have any plans to continue increasing the surface area of the vineyard?
We have been able to place our wines in a medium-high level niche market, which was a struggle because in the beginning, when the Godello variety was not very well known, this was difficult.

Three or four years ago we saw that Valdeorras and the Godello variety are in fashion

Our philosophy continues by committing to quality, and the path we have taken so far shows that this was the right thing to do. That is why, at the moment we are going to continue with what we are doing, with controlled production and committed to obtaining the best grapes.

You are a winery that is also committing to wine tourism, which already represents an important part of your sales…
We receive visits and are part both of the Valdeorras Wine Route as well as the Inorde tourist train, set up by the County Council of Ourense. We like to receive visits because, besides the fact that we have a winery with history and unique architecture in the area that is worth visiting, we see that word of mouth from the people that visit us is the best advertising.

That is to say, we found that the visits to the winery are a very important way to promote ourselves and help that our wines to be advertised. We have direct selling in the winery and also through our website. We also send a lot of wine to individuals that place orders from us by phone or email. In this way, direct selling in the winery is growing year by year and now accounts for about 15% of our sales.

You are part of the Galicia Calidade seal. What does this give you?
In 2014 we decided to request to be certified by Galicia Calidade because it provides us with an extra and gives added value to our wines. The Galicia brand sells abroad and is associated with quality and Galicia Calidade carries out external promotions which are very useful for small and medium-sized wineries.

And how do you see the future of the Valdeorras Denomination of Origin?
I believe that the Denomination of Origin’s future is to continue committing to quality, not quantity, and to native varieties, so that Godello and Mencia de Valdeorras are recognosed as being wines that are differentiated and associated with quality. That is what is increasingly creating an interest so that both Galician and external wineries invest in this region.

A Coroa, a winery from the 18th century located on a Roman castro

The A Coroa winery was built around 1750 by a family of A Rua that produced wine to market. The site is called A Coroa, due to the Roman castro on which it stood and that dominated the A Rua valley. After a period of neglect the current owners, Ángel López and Roberto Fernández, bought the property in 1999 with the idea of rebuilding the old winery and starting to produce wine again. It was a reconstruction process using traditional materials such as slate and chestnut wood, and that respected the original architecture, including a spectacular underground cellar that remains intact.

The facilities were inaugurated in 2002 with the philosophy right from the start, which was to develop high-quality wines by committing to own production and the native Godello variety. “We have 20 hectares, of which 16 are in production, divided into 9 plots in the Valdeorras region and it allows us to take advantage of different soil types and micro-climates,” says Marta Sertaje.

“We have 9 vineyards spread across the different sub-areas of the DO to take advantage of the different micro-climates and soils”

In this way, the plots vary between those located in the sub-area of the River Sil, where slate soils predominate, while in the sub-area of the Bibei the soils are granite and with more altitude, which allows different wines to be produced, with more minerals, and more marked acidity due to the high altitude. In this sub-area in Lentellais, in the town council of O Bolo, a granite area was where the A Coroa winery acquired a 1.5 hectare vineyard four years ago. In one part, on the Property called 200 Cestos (200 Baskets), as this was what it produced, is where this ‘vino de pago’ is made from Godello vines that are between 60 and 70 years old, while the other part of the plot there are abandoned terraces that were recovered and replanted.

They also have a plot, O Rasedo, with hundred-year old vines of Garnacha Tintorera, which produce some 1,400 bottles of “A Coroa Ladeira Vella”, a unique wine with an important structure and 14 degrees of alcohol.

Nor-Ibérica de Bebidas (Maside, Ourense), is specialised in the production of Galician spirits and liqueurs, and is one of the companies in the sector to have committed to giving Galician distillated spirits prestige. Its offer has two brands as quality benchmarks, Felipe Saavedra and Marquis of Marialva, covered by the Galician Spirits and Liqueurs Regulator, which last year also obtained, the Galicia Calidade seal.

The production of the liqueurs marketed with both brands is characterised by the care taken with the product. The base is a spirit distilled from the marc of Galician grapes, which is macerated in cold for 90 days with 100% natural Colombian coffee, in the case of the coffee liqueur, or with a combination of 36 herbs, obtained from the Allariz area (Ourense), in the case of the herbal liqueur. Then sugar, with a minimum of 100 grams per litre, in accordance with the rules of the Regulatory Board, completes the preparations and provides them with their characteristic sweet taste.

“The problem abroad is that they do not know about Galician liqueurs. Italian grappa has a positioning that we lack”

Juan Carlos Saavedra heads up Nor-Iberica de Ibérica, and has worked in the denomination of origin wine sector since the mid-1980s, a facet he has complemented with the production of distilled spirits for more than a decade. “We can define Nor-Ibérica de Bebidas as an industrial distillery that looks after the product in a traditional way,” he values.

Volumes
The company handles a stock of around 200,000 litres, of which 10% corresponds to products covered by the Geographical Indication for Traditional Galician Spirits and Liqueurs. “They are liqueurs that are widely accepted, especially in the communities of the Cantabrian Coast, and of which we can boast of their exceptional quality,” says Saavedra.

Outside Spain, Nor-Ibérica de Bebidas has tested markets in Germany, Switzerland and Japan, by attending international trade fairs and investing in commercial work, although the results have been limited for the time being.

“The problem abroad is that they do not know about our products. Italian grappa, for example, has a international positioning that we lack, but it is like a dog biting it’s own tail. We do not sell liqueurs abroad that are covered by the Regulatory Board because there is no promotion, but there is no money for that promotion because we do not sell,” explains the manager of Nor-Ibérica de Bebidas.

The same situation also partly affects the Spanish market, where Galician liqueurs have to compete in price in the majority of the communities, with the paradigmatic case of Madrid, with regards to the German herbal liqueur, the Jägermeister, selling around 1.5 million litres a year in Spain, with a positioning oriented at the nightlife scene with an audience of under 40.

Godello, a native grape that has gained strength in recent years in designations of origin (DO) like Valdeorras and Monterrei, is being very well received in international markets. In the case of Quinta do Buble, an Oimbra winery (Ourense) of the DO Monterrei, its Godello has Germany as its first destination, a country where it has wowed and where it already has a well-established distribution.

The winery’s entry into the Germanic country was helped due to the fact that some of its partners live there, while other traditional wine markets are also not foreign to it, as is the case of Japan, Belgium and Ireland. About 80% of the Quinta do Bublé production is exported, while the remaining 20% is consumed in Galicia and the north of Spain.

“Monterrei is doing a good job and generating interest. The prestige that Galicia Calidade provides abroad is also important”

Preparations
Quinta do Buble’s work focuses on white wines, mainly Godello, while it also produces a small amount of Mencia. Its white wine of reference carries the name of the winery, Quinta do Bublé, a Godello that is made from the production of the oldest vines and that is macerated prior to its next step to the tanks.

“It is a wine that is characterised by its aromatic intensity. The majority of our vines are on a hillside area, so the production volumes are lower than in the valley, but the grape retains more aroma and freshness, says Beatriz Casado, from Quinta do Buble.

Another of the Godellos of the winery is Terra do Lobo, a brand that was originally designed for the United States, which goes to the tank after pressing, without maceration. The white wine chapter closes with O Roncal, a multi-variety wine that has Godello as the main variety and around 10% Treixadura, another ‘top’ native variety in Galicia.
As for the reds, Quinta do Bublé has marketed vintage Mencia in previous years, although now it is focusing on the development of young wines.

Volumes
The total production of the winery is around 120,000 litres, although it has the capacity to grow. Nowadays Quinta do Bublé is supplied from the grapes from its own vineyards, totalling around 22 hectares.

“Our vineyards are on the hillside, so we get less volume of production than in the valley, but greater aromas”

In the future, the winery plans to expand production by renting vineyards of the designation. “Our idea is to control the whole process of growth and ripening of the grapes to be able to have a greater guarantee of quality,” indicates Beatriz Casado.

At the winery, they are satisfied with the work that is being done in the DO Monterrei, because they feel that markets are being opened and interest is being generated. They also make use of the Galicia Calidade seal for their promotion abroad. “We have been using the Galicia Calidade seal for two years because it is a brand that that brings prestige when dealing with people abroad. Everything Galician has an image of quality abroad”, they emphasise at the winery.