About the Wine
The inkiest of Nachos reds, O Poulo is from Nacho’s highest vines, a single plot planted to Garnacha Tintorera with a little Palomino at the far end.
Planted on granitic clay soils, these ancient, low yielding vines tends to suffer the worst of the weather, resulting in a wine a little darker and with a bit more structure than Nacho’s other cuvées, balanced with a good lick granitic minerality.
Showing wonderfully lifted yet concentrated fruit notes of plum, blackcurrants and dark cherry alongside a complex depth and savoury spice from barrel influence.
Made with mostly Garnacha Tintorera with just a splash of the salty Palomino for added lift, the grapes are hand-harvested and destemmed and begin fermentation with the skins in neutral fermenters for roughly a week.
During this time, Nacho gradually removes the skins from the must by hand, until only the must remain. The wine is then moved to used old barrels and tinaja to rest over the winter.
About La Perdida
Nacho's cellar is in Larouco at the heart of Valdeorras in Galicia in Spain's northwesternmost corner. This area has, for a number of years, attracted Spain's larger multi-regional wineries who jostle for the area's flatter fertile land on which the productive Godello thrives. Away from these plots, at higher altitude and on steeper slopes you can find parcels of old vines mostly co plantations of red and white native varieties: palomino, dona branca, godello, garnacha tintorera, mouraton, merenzao (trousseau!) and sumol.
In 2011 Nacho inherited one such parcel of 70 year old vines from his grandmother; O Trancado. And so began his life as a winemaker, as he brought the vineyard back to life through good farming practices and a desire to preserve the regions traditional grape varieties and practices, rather than rip them up and re-plant. He began accumulating parcels mainly around Larouco, actively seeking out isolated and remote plots of land and abandoned vineyards that he could bring back to life.
Nacho now works just over 5 hectares split into around 32 parcels of old vines. The wines are planted in gobelet on a mix of granite and clay soils and made up predominantly of garnacha tintorera (alicante bouschet) and palomino. All vineyard work is done by hand and Nacho, a biologist by training, is fascinated by soil health and the micro organisms that help the vine do what it needs.
