Ronsel do Sil

Ronsel is the wake a boat leaves behind. The bodega sits right at the bottom of the steep slopes of the Sil, near Sacardebois, looking across to the vineyards of Amandi. The vines belong to the D.O. Ribeira Sacra.

María José Yravedra, one of Spain’s first women winemakers. She brought the old bodega back to life in 2010 with her husband Felipe Somarriba. She is an oenologist, he is an architect, and today their two daughters help too.

All picking on the ten hectares of terraces is done by hand, since no machine can reach these slopes. Sheep help in the vineyard, and the compost is made with gorse. The cellar is built so that the wine moves by gravity alone, with no pumps. Every wine ferments spontaneously with natural yeasts, the press wine is not used, and the whites are bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Almost only old varieties of the Ribeira Sacra. For the reds that means Mencía, Brancellao, Merenzao and Caiño, with Garnacha Tintorera added in the rosé. For the whites, Godello, Treixadura and Dona Branca. Many wines are single-variety: Pórtico da Gloria is Brancellao, Alpendre Merenzao, Al Pie del Cañón Caiño, and each of the three Ourive wines is Godello, Treixadura or Dona Branca.

Ourive is Galician for goldsmith. The three whites come from bush vines over 85 years old, each from a single variety: Godello, Treixadura and Dona Branca. They ferment spontaneously in French oak barrels and spend six to eight months on the fine lees. Each wine runs to only 640 to 1,450 bottles. The Treixadura costs CHF 35, the Godello and the Dona Branca CHF 36 each.

A tribute to women in winegrowing and their hard work in the vineyard. The wine is mostly Mencía, with other red varieties of the Ribeira Sacra. The vines grow on slate in the Bibei valley, at 650 metres and on slopes steeper than 50 percent. It ferments spontaneously in a 2,500-litre French oak cask. There are 1,000 bottles of the 2022, at CHF 43.

Vel'Uveyra means «look at the vineyard» in Galician. The range covers a Mencía with a little Garnacha and Mouratón, a Godello with Treixadura and Dona Branca, and a Rosado. Rosé is rare in the Ribeira Sacra. This one is made from Mencía, Garnacha Tintorera, Brancellao and Caiño, spent five hours on the skins and aged six months in French oak.

The Vel'Uveyra Mencía suits tapas, grilled vegetables or light meat dishes. Pórtico da Gloria and Muller Cepa want game, grilled meat or mature cheese. Drink the Alpendre at 12 to 14 degrees with poultry or mushroom risotto. With seafood, open the Vel'Uveyra Godello or the Ourive Dona Branca, and the Rosado also works with Asian dishes.

The Vel'Uveyra Mencía costs CHF 19, the Rosado and the Godello CHF 25 each, the three Ourive wines CHF 35 and 36, and the single-variety reds CHF 39 to 43.