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Iago Garrido may be destined to become one of Spain’s most influential winegrowers. In 2014 this former professional soccer player buried an amphora filled with Treixadura in the middle of his granite vineyard inside Ribeiro’s Avia River Valley. Initially convinced he had made a mistake with the discovery of a flor yeast veil, he later realized this errant shot actually hit a vein of gold that went on to define the direction of his wines. What makes Iago’s wines special is not only that he welcomes the influence of flor, or that he is committed to biodynamic practices in his cellar and the vineyards he owns and the ones he works directly himself, and to only using a minuscule dose of sulfur in his wines, it’s his razor-sharp attention to detail coupled with his openness to take in the ideas and opinions of others. His creative range is focused on indigenous Galician varieties with many different bottlings.
Iago Garrido may be destined to become one of Spain’s most influential winegrowers. In 2014 this former professional soccer player buried an amphora filled with Treixadura in the middle of his granite vineyard inside Ribeiro’s Avia River Valley. Initially convinced he had made a mistake with the discovery of a flor yeast veil, he later realized this errant shot actually hit a vein of gold that went on to define the direction of his wines. What makes Iago’s wines special is not only that he welcomes the influence of flor, or that he is committed to biodynamic practices in his cellar and the vineyards he owns and the ones he works directly himself, and to only using a minuscule dose of sulfur in his wines, it’s his razor-sharp attention to detail coupled with his openness to take in the ideas and opinions of others. His creative range is focused on indigenous Galician varieties with many different bottlings.
VINEYARD DETAILS
Ollos Blanco is a blend of 15-50-year-old Treixadura, Albariño and Godello from organically farmed vineyard of Manolo de Traveso and other parcels in the three unofficial Ribeiro subzones Arnoia, Avia, and Miño, at 100-300m on mostly granite and gneiss bedrock and sand and clay topsoil derived from the bedrock.
CELLAR NOTES
Natural fermentation in old oak at low temps. Aged 10 months partially under flor yeast in 50% amphora and 50% in old 500-600l French oak. No fining or filtration.
Ollos de Roque is the flagship of the fazenda. The vines are very young and many of them are grafted onto already quite young rootstocks. All the grapes come from the organic and biodynamically farmed Augalevada vineyard composed completely of granite. It is a mix of Treixadura, Lado and Agudelo. They are pressed directly and spend their fermentations partially in stainless steel at very low temperatures with another part in old oak barrels. The wine is aged in one-third amphora and two-thirds in old, 600-liter and 840-liter oak barrels for ten months. Starting in 2020, ancient 500-liter Jerez barrels (likely over 100 years old) have made it into the cellar and the results are beautiful. The comparison between French oak barrels and Jerez barrels is interesting: My initial observation was that the wines in the Jerez barrels were more cohesive and analog in frequency, while those in the younger (but still completely neutral) oak barrels were a little more edgy. It will be interesting to follow the wines in these old barrels.
