Luis A Rodriguez, A Teixa (2018)

A Teixa is a single vineyard located in the town of Ribadavia (5km north of the winery) and is comprised of the native grapes Treixadura (mostly), Godello, and Albariño. The grapes are hand-harvested, fermented with native yeasts and raised on the lees for 1 year in a 2300 liter foudre, and aged 1 year in bottle before release. A Teixa is aromatic, lush, and textured – a lovely and quite serious vinho branco to pair with rich ocean creatures and poultry.

Luis Rodríguez established his bodega in 1988 with the philosophy to make distinctive and age-worthy wines from the once nearly extinct native grapes of the region. Over time, Luis has accumulated just over 5ha scattered over nearly 100 micro-plots located in some of the steepest south-facing vineyards in Ribeiro. Here the soils are decomposed granite with sandy topsoil. Luis’s vines range from 10-50 years old, with many of them being planted by Luis himself. He has been steadily converting these plots from bulk wine grapes like Palomino to the native Treixadura, Lado, and Ferrol, just to name a few. His philosophy in the vineyard is to maintain balance, using no herbicides, and chemical treatments applied only if absolutely necessary, and never for a month before the harvest to help preserve the native yeasts on the grapes. All fermentations are carried out naturally, and he uses judicious amounts of sulfur during the winemaking process to act purely as an antiseptic and to avoid oxidation. The white wines are aged on the lees, and for the reds, Luis has single-handedly revived vinho tinto production in the Ribeiro. His work with the Caiño Longo, Caiño Redondo, Ferrol, and Brancellao grapes is unprecedented in Ribeiro and admired by many vignerons across the Iberian Peninsula.