Galician Wines You Should Be Drinking: Vel’uveyra Mencía
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you should be drinking more Ribeira Sacra. Beyond the positive feelings that come from supporting growers in an aging wine region that’s had its fair share of challenges lately, the wines are delicious.
Wines from Ribeira Sacra are fresh, elegant alternatives to reds from the Loire Valley, Burgundy, or Northern Rhône, but they somehow still fly under the radar and sell for a fraction of the price.
Vel’uveyra, from Bodegas Ronsel do Sil, falls into this camp of lovely, fresh—affordable—red wines.
Wine was part of María José Yravedra’s life from a young age. Her father, Gabriel Yravedra, spent his career working with the national Ministry of Agriculture to promote quality wine in Spain. He was the original head of technical services at the National Institute of Designations of Origin after its creation in 1972 and also helped negotiate Spain's entry into the European Economic Community.
María José Yravedra - from yravedra.com
María José spent her childhood exploring vineyards with her parents, and later studied architecture. Wine was never very far away: she wrote her doctoral thesis on the architecture of wine, and she began her career as an architect researching in wine regions like Jerez and Rioja while studying a master's degree in viticulture and winemaking at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. After completing her degree, she and her husband bought a small, dilapidated winery with a century-old vineyard on the banks of the Sil Canyon in Ribeira Sacra. From there, Ronsel do Sil—named for the wake, or ronsel, that passing boats leave on the Sil—was born.
The Sil River, seen from the winery © Noah Chichester 2022
María José works with old vines of native grapes like Mencía, Merenzao, Dona Branca, and Godello. She composts each year with toxo, (gorse, in Gallego) and sheep graze the vineyards once a year. The cellar is built into a hill by the banks of the Sil, and she uses gravity instead of pumps to transfer the wine into old wood barrels and concrete tanks.
Vel’uveyra means ‘to gaze at the vineyard’ in Galician. It’s mostly Mencía, along with some Garnacha Tintorera (Alicante Bouschet) and Negreda, planted on steep terraced slopes at a range of altitudes. Grapes are hand harvested and cold-soaked before fermenting in 5,000-liter oak foudres, followed by 8 months of aging.
The wine has lots of floral notes, bright, crunchy red fruit with some spicy black fruit and pepper as well. It’s got fine tannins and that pure, mineral-driven character that I love from Ribeira Sacra reds.