Fedellos do Couto - Lomba dos Ares 2020

Fedellos do Couto was created in 2011 when Curro Barreño and Jesús Olivares partnered with Luis Taboada. Bareño and Olivares were the talented team behind Ronsel do Sil, one of the most heralded estates in Ribeira Sacra. Both began their careers in the Sierra de Gredos, and they remain close friends with Dani Landi, Fernando Garcia, and Marc Isart. This association is evident in their wines: elegant and nuanced but persistent and assertive.

The winemaking at Fedellos remains minimalist: native co-fermentations, long, gentle macerations in concrete, neutral French oak barrels, or small fermentation bins with aging in concrete and/or various neutral French oak barrels and foudres, but mainly 500L demi-muids. Regardless of what is on the outside of the bottles, their dedication to site-specific expression and minimalist winemaking guarantees that what is on the inside are some of the most revealing and exciting wines in our portfolio.

Lomba dos Ares is Curro & Jesus’ village wine from their oldest and steepest vineyards on the west bank of the Bibei – the river that separates Ribeira Sacra from Valdeorras. Averaging about 70 years old, these sites offer a patchwork of indigenous varieties, with Mencia comprising the largest share and varying amounts of Merenzao (aka Trousseau and Bastardo), Caiño Tinto, Negreda (aka Juan García), Garnacha Tintorera, Grão Negro, Aramón, etc. Lomba dos Ares in a natural yeast co-fermentation of these varieties aged in concrete, foudre, and a few neutral 300-500L French oak barrels.

"The Lomba dos Ares bottling from Fedellos do Couto is a classic red wine crafted from the old-fashioned field blends found in the most ancient vineyards of Galicia. Mencía is the dominant grape in the blend in this steep vineyard, which also includes Caiño Tinto, Garnacha Tintorera and a handful of others. Grapes are hand-harvested, fermented together, whole cluster, with native yeasts and aged in old foudres. The 2020 Lomba dos Ares offers up a fine, black fruity nose of dark berries, pomegranate, tree bark, dark soil tones, coffee bean, sweet botanicals and chicory. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, focused and complex, with lovely depth at the core, excellent mineral drive and grip, ripe, moderate tannins and a long, tangy and beautifully balanced finish. These vines lie on the border of Valdeorras and Ribera Sacra, on the west side of the Bibei River, but to my palate, the wine very much has a Bierzo personality to it, despite it not officially belonging to the D.O. Fine juice. 2030-2060." - 92 Points, John Gilman

Producer: Fedellos do Couto

Country: Spain

Region: Galicia

Varietal: Mencia, Merenzao, Caino, Mouraton

Appellation: Ribeira Sacra

Vintage: 2020

Size: 750ml