A Barouta O Penedo 2020

“The red 2020 O Penedo is a blend of approximately 70% Caíño and 30% Brancellao from an old vineyard they recovered in the village of Leiro very close to Emilio Rojo, a terraced east-facing slope on granite soils with a big boulder in the middle. They regrafted many plants from 2016, and they replanted some terraces, as there was a lot of Palomino and Garnacha Tintorera and the place is optimal to produce a red. It fermented with full clusters and a more Mediterranean fermentation, closer to Gredos than Loire, with long macerations and an élevage in a 500-liter barrel for some 16 months. It has 12% alcohol, a full 1% more than the 2021. It has the advantage of two years in bottle, so the wine is more polished and integrated; but the profile is darker and heavier, with a wider nose than the palate, more truffle and earth, more classical but a fresher, medium-bodied palate. There is a big evolution between this 2020 and the 2021, and 2020 was also the COVID vintage… 600 bottles were filled in May 2022. Drink: 2023-2028. 93 points

A Barouta is a new small project in Ribeiro (everything in Ribeiro is small). It’s a joint venture between Javier Alén, who is the ex-owner of Viña Mein and the promoter of the project, and Dani Landi and Fernando García from Comando G from Gredos and their Chilean vineyard manager and cellarmaster, Roberto Núñez. It was born from their friendship and the experience of working together in Ribeiro over the last eight years as they helped Alén to transform the vineyards and wines of Meín, which was later sold to the Pago de Carraovejas group from Ribera del Duero. They wanted to keep their links with the place and continue with their friendship by working together in something small.

They purchased some old vineyards in the villages of Leiro and Cabanelas. The one in Leiro, O Penedo, is very close to Emilio Rojo and has a big granite boulder in the middle that somehow reminded me of the landscape of the vineyard in Gredos. They also bought an old stone building next to Alén’s family house in Barouta, hence the name, and turned it into a very simple and functional winery. There is one white and one red, and the first vintage is 2020. They did the same in 2021; but in 2022, they introduced a new village red, and they are searching for the specific place that could produce a single-vineyard wine. Production will remain small; they only have around 2.5 hectares of vineyards. They started with some 2,000 bottles with the idea to produce between 7,000 and 10,000 bottles per year. Prices are still not 100%. This is a new name to follow in Ribeiro.”

Luis Gutierrez, Wine Advocate (11/23)