Dominio de Bibei Ribeira Sacra Tinto 'Lalama'

Dominio do Bibei is the domaine of reference in the lesser-known Quiroga-Bibei subzone of Galicia’s Ribeira Sacra. Proprietor Javier Domínguez and team are sparing no pains in making their best wines ever from back-breakingly beautiful terraced vineyards at up to 500-600 meters above sea level. Plantings are mostly to Mencía but other indigenous varieties like Mouratón and Brancellao are cultivated assiduously, vinified separately, and prized for their character in blends. The whites, produced from the highest plots, are also revelatory. The winery is one of silence, beauty, and a distinct lack of technology– this is a gentle transformation from grapes to wine, entirely by gravity in descending levels of neutral wooden vessels.

‘Lalama’ is produced mostly from Mencía, although other indigenous varieties such as Mouratón, Sousón, Brancellao and Garnacha Tintorera lend extra shades of complexity. These are harvested from a variety of steep, terraced sites on both slate and clay. The grapes were destemmed, crushed and fermented with indigenous yeasts in large open-top wood vats, then raised in used barrels and further rested in vat for a total of around twenty months.