Treixadura

Ourive: Treixadura on its own above the Sil

At 550 metres above the Sil stand the bush vines, over 85 years old, from which Ronsel do Sil makes the Ourive Treixadura 2023. Ourive is Galician for goldsmith. The grapes get 24 hours of cold contact with their skins, then ferment with wild yeasts in 300-litre French oak barrels and spend six months on the fine lees without stirring. There are 640 bottles.

Treixadura has less floral scent than Albariño and more texture, and in a blend its acidity brings freshness. We think it shows more on its own from barrel than in any blend, even though that is the exception in the Ribeiro.

At Coto de Gomariz in the Avia valley

The usual form in the Ribeiro is the blend. In the Finca o Figueiral 2022 from Coto de Gomariz, Treixadura makes up 70 percent, with Godello, Albariño, Loureira and Lado. It ferments with wild yeasts in 500-litre barrels and spends ten months on its fine lees, 1,450 bottles in all.

For the Paxaradas 2023, pure Treixadura ferments for two weeks on its skins, and the orange wine then spends a year on its fine lees in steel. It smells of orange peel, quince and dill.

The Gomariz 12 2024 is 85 percent Treixadura and 15 percent Loureira. Fermentation is stopped at 8.7 percent alcohol by chilling and filtration, in the style of German Prädikat wines, which leaves residual sugar alongside the acidity.

At the table

Ronsel do Sil suggests the Ourive with fish, poultry and delicate vegetarian dishes. The Finca o Figueiral can take lobster, spiny lobster and a Galician caldeirada, the fish stew of the coast. The Paxaradas goes with roast chicken and spicy food, and Coto de Gomariz even names a good burger. We would rather open the Gomariz 12 with a hot curry than with dessert, even though it also suits apple tart and foie gras.