Bierzo

Between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean

Sangarida describes Bierzo as a climatic meeting point of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The valley is ringed by mountains; on the slopes of the Montes Aquilianos you find slate and clay, down in the valley loam, and gravel in a few plots. Red wine here is almost only Mencía, white wine Godello and Doña Blanca. How Mencía from here differs from the Ribeira Sacra is covered in our Mencía story.

Sangarida on the Montes Aquilianos

The Fariña brothers of Attis in the Rías Baixas founded Sangarida in 2019, together with Robustiano's daughter Lía, whose mother comes from Bierzo, and the oenologist Jean-François Hébrard. Two of their wines are named after mountains above the valley, Pico Tuerto at 2,051 metres and La Yegua at 2,142 metres.

The Sangarida Pico Tuerto 2021 comes from four plots near San Lorenzo del Bierzo, planted as bush vines between 1901 and 1910 and interplanted with Doña Blanca. The Sangarida El Morredero 2021 comes from the La Tarea site near Cacabelos, planted in 1999 at around 600 metres, and ferments without sulphur; 966 bottles were filled. If you buy only one red from Sangarida, take the El Morredero, even though its vines are almost a hundred years younger. The Sangarida La Yegua 2022 is half Godello, half Doña Blanca from slate, and spends twelve months on its lees in oak and acacia barrels.

José Mas and the Massuria

José Mas is an agricultural engineer who studied oenology in Montpellier and worked for the Moueix family in Pomerol and Saint-Émilion from 2002 to 2004. In Villafranca del Bierzo he makes a single wine, the Massuria, from Mencía grown on four hectares in twelve plots, with vines planted between 1912 and 1970. The 2020 and 2021 vintages include 2 percent Alicante Bouschet.

The Massuria vintages in our cellar

The years differ a lot: 2007 was warm and picked very early, 2008 had the coolest August since 1977, and 2021 arrived as a cooler, Atlantic year after a run of warm vintages. With time, the floral notes of the young wine turn to leather and tobacco, which the 2007 shows clearly today. Mas Asturias gives the 2021 a drinking window from 2026 to 2040 and the 2015 magnum one up to 2050. In bottles we stock the 2007, 2008, 2010, 2020 and 2021 vintages, in magnums the years 2015 to 2019.