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New granite wine in Rías Baixas

In Pazo Torre Penelas, in the Rías Baixas, something big is cooking: a wine entirely made of granite. The Torres Family is already working with its first wine in this area, which it acquired a year and a half ago. It will thus be the first made entirely of granite. It will have achieved the fermentation and subsequent aging in tanks made with this typical Galician stone.

An exclusively 'granite' wine

The objective is to create a wine that is the maximum expression of the territory, since it will only have been in contact with granite. From the fruit that grows in soils formed by granite sands until it reaches the bottle, enhancing the minerality and varietal character of the Albariño.

But that is not all. The small winery, installed under the Torre del Pazo, has three innovative Galician granite tanks of ovoid shape and 735 liters of capacity. They are the first to be manufactured by Ànforum Stone Barrels of this size. Furthermore, a refrigeration system has been adapted to control the temperature of the fermentation. The wine has fermented for 20 days in these stone tanks. It is currently aging on lees, which will last from 6 to 8 months.

Granite wine
Granite wine

This type of material, due to the porosity of the stone, allows a constant micro-oxygenation of the came.  Thus, it facilitates the generation of aromas and minerality. The ovoid shape, for its part, favors the movement of the wine inside the tank. It also keeps the lees in suspension, which will provide greater smoothness and volume on the palate.

According to Víctor Cortizo, a winemaker at Familia Torres in Rías Baixas, their intention is to «make a wine that shows the uniqueness of the six hectares from the walled vineyard of the Pazo Torre Penelas in the Salnés valley ».

"This Albariño vineyard on exceptional granite soil can produce wines with long aging potential", believes Cortizo. A wine that responds to the will of the Torres Family to produce unique products from their own vineyards, deeply rooted in the territory.

Granite wine

Recent harvests in the Salnés Valley

The first harvest of 2017 served to discover the full potential of the vineyard and divide the six hectares into three areas according to the orientation and age of the vines. This year the best batches have already been selected to be produced in the winery. It also has three concrete tanks, five stainless steel tanks and a 600-liter wooden barrel.

The harvest began on September 12 to preserve the acidity of the grape. It ended the last week of that month with less production than the previous year, but an exceptional quality. As is tradition, as established by the regulations in DO Rías Baixas, the harvest was carried out by hand.

The Pazo Torre Penelas is located in the municipality of Portas, in Pontevedra, in the Salnés valley. It is the best known of the five sub-zones that make up the DO Rías Baixas. It is a typical Galician pazo cataloged as historical heritage, whose origin would be located in the s. XIV or XV.

The Inventory of country houses and towers in the Galician province edited by the Provincial Council in 1997 also points out that their owners include illustrious figures such as Ponce de León. It has typically Galician elements such as the hórreo, the dovecote and the chapel. It stands out for the extension of its vineyard, of six hectares, planted through the characteristic trellis system of the Rías Baixas.

Torres Family Wine Pazo Penelas
Torres Family Wine Pazo Penelas
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