CONASBRANCAS, FEDELLOS DO COUTO
ORIGIN: Spain, Galicia
APPELATION: Vino de España
VARIETY/BLEND: Dona Blanca, Godello, Albariño, Triexadura, Lado, & Torrontes
SOILS: Decomposed granite, schist and sand
CLIMA: Continental, Atlantic influence
ALTITUDE: 700 - 750m a.s.l.
FERMENTATION: Maceration on skins for 28 days, fermentation in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts
AGEING: 12 months on lees, without battonage
WINE DESCRIPTION
A co-fermented field blend of native varieties from the same vineyard as Lomba dos Ares. The name is a play on Galician language, meaning “Con as brancas”, or “with the whites”. There’s also another joke in there, but it’s less polite so you’ll have to ask the Fedellos personally! The nose is saline, with a little spice and hints of pollen and beeswax, while the palate is marked by vibrant acidity and plenty of minerality. Easy-going but not underpowered.
ABOUT PRODUCER
Fedellos loosely translates as "Brats", and Couto refers to the 12th century manor in Ribeira Sacra at the heart of the vineyards. It's a young project, started in 2013 by winemakers Curro Barreño and Jesús Olivares and Luis Taboada (whose family has owned the Couto manor for generations). They lease a small selection of vineyards which are farmed organically and worked by hand - you couldn't do otherwise on these steep terraces! The vines are planted on terraces along the steep slopes of the rivers Sil and Bibei, with a myriad of grape varieties, altitudes, and expositions. The wines are fermented with indigenous yeasts and whole bunches, at low temperatures to favour a gentle extraction of colour and phenolics. All the wines share an Atlantic freshness and a slatey minerality that make these wines unmistakably Galician.