Brancellao

Brancellao from clay and from oak

The Coto de Gomariz Brancellao has just 11.5 percent alcohol, even though 2022 brought Galicia a hot, dry summer. The grapes come from the A Ferreira plot in Gomariz, on terraces rebuilt in 1994. Winemaker Inma Pazos ferments them with wild yeasts and no added sulphur in small open vessels, then ages the wine for a year in a 250-litre clay amphora. There are 290 bottles.

Ronsel do Sil's Pórtico da Gloria comes in at 14.5 percent. María José Yravedra ferments 30 percent of the grapes as whole bunches and destems the rest; the malolactic fermentation takes place in 228-litre French oak barrels, where the wine stays for eight months. The vines grow on granite and slate by the Sil, facing east, and the vintage ran to 1,300 bottles.

The spicy Pórtico goes with game or grilled meat. The Gomariz wine smells of violets, wild strawberry and tomato leaf and belongs with turbot or cod. Our favourite is the amphora wine, though anyone who looks to Brancellao for power may find it too delicate.

Albarello, Alvarelhão

In Galicia the grape is also called Albarello, in Portugal Alvarelhão. It had almost disappeared and survives today in small plots in the Ribeiro and the Ribeira Sacra. Merenzao and Caiño come from the same valleys, and our Galicia article tells you more about Coto de Gomariz.

Brancellao in blends

At Guímaro, Brancellao makes up 20 percent of the A Ponte 2022, next to 70 percent Mencía, from vines over 60 years old on the Sil terraces. In the San Pedro it shares 20 percent with Garnacha Tintorera. In the Ribeiro it joins Sousón, which accounts for half of the Abadia de Gomariz, alongside Ferrol and Mencía. Ronsel do Sil puts it into the Vel'Uveyra Rosado, from slopes steeper than 50 percent, where the must spends five hours on the skins.