Dominio do Bibei Refu 2017 - 75cl

When considering the construction of the winery, they tried to enhance the landscape and accentuate its uniqueness from a totally romantic vision. With the premise that the winery should dialogue with nature and seeking its complete integration, they decided from the beginning to fragment it into different buildings and distribute them on a steep slope in a staggered manner, as can be seen in the photos of the winery.this conceptual strategy, based on the traditional system of building on slopes, allowed them to have a minimal impact on the visual landscape and successfully resolve their intention to use gravity as a system of wine production.they also tried to find guidelines to guide their intervention in such a humanized and suggestive territory. This landscape of walls or socalcos arranged following the contour lines has been molded by the hands of winegrowers who have cultivated these lands for centuries, and is part of a memory that provokes a deep emotion impossible to ignore.The Romans found gold deposits and were the first to carry out costly engineering works to divert the riverbed and access the river sediments. The ancient Roman mines of Las Médulas and the Montefurado tunnel are examples of this. It is said that they were also the first to cultivate vines in the area. They then shipped the wine along with lampreys caught in the river to be served on the tables of the emperors. Today, the vines are still planted in the deep valleys and gorges of the river, making the grape harvest an almost heroic task.the terroir is a differentiating element, it determines the particularity and is its birthmark. Already in ancient times, its vineyards were far from civilization under the care of a high mountain population that relied on wine presses to survive a very harsh winter. We are in a special place, far from big cities or polluting industries. A land far from the comings and goings of cars, trains or airplanes. A land only interrupted by the sound of the elements, the rock on which it rests is of granite origin. In some areas there is an abundance of sands, composite schists and minerals such as mica, quartz or feldspar. In others, however, clays and slates predominate. Theclimate is Atlantic with marked contrasts between seasons. With an average annual rainfall of 700 mm concentrated in winter and spring, summer and autumn are drier and with a greater thermal amplitude between day and night. September, the month of the grape harvest, is always unpredictable. The strongest winds are from the west and southwest.in the Ribeira Sacra we find an apparently disorderly vineyard in terms of varieties. Faced with the prevailing monoculture, it was decided to respect the decisions of the predecessors and go for a blend of native varieties, respecting the vision of the old winegrowers.the capricious orography makes the altitudes range from 200 to 700 meters, achieving optimal conditions for all grape varieties, white and red. The vines of Dominio do Bibei are young and centenary. Different varieties of the Ribeira Sacra have been recovered, some of them almost abandoned: Mencia, Brancellao, Mouratón, Garnacha tintorera, Sousón, Caiño, Gran Negro or "Vella da Caxata" for the reds and Albariño, Dona Blanca, Colagadeira, Treixadura and Torrontes for the whites.the harvest is carried out by hand and selectively in small boxes, taking into account the nature of the soil, the incidence of climate and variety. After fermentation, they are in favor of using old barrels. The barrels are known one by one: each sensation, each forest, each history....the life of each one. Thus, they are used according to the varieties and plots, far from mechanization. Once bottled, the wines rest an average of 18 months in the cellar.At Dominio do Bibei they are not lovers of high-grade wines, with a lot of new wood, with a lot of extraction. They seek first of all elegance; and secondly the complexity given by time, which gives a combination of sensations to their reds. Minerality and freshness are other characteristics.