Nanclares y Prieto, ‘O Son das Pisadas’ Mencía (2022)

Galicia, Spain— A unique expression of Mencia from a single parcel in the village of Cambados, nestled in an inlet on the Atlantic ocean. Mencia is rare here, as are red grapes in general, but trust Alberto and Silvia to find an tiny old parcel that was practically forgotten and make magic happen! As the illustration on the label depicts, Silvia and Alberto do the "danza galega" or Galician (Galego) dance on the grapes, with some stem inclusions and the wine is fermented and aged in used oak barrels for under a year before bottling. Crunchy red berries, blackberry, herbs, pepper with a salty twang due to proximity to the ocean! No S02. 

Alberto Nanclares is an unassuming new star in Cambados. From working as an economist for many years, to a fortuitous second career in grape-growing, to today crafting some of the most serious, ocean-infused, age-worthy single vineyard Albariños. In 1992, Alberto and his wife wanted to unwind their careers near the ocean. They left their native Basque Country and settled in the seaside parroquia of Castrelo, just a few kilometers away from the most historic and traditional village for Albariño wines, Cambados. As happenstance, the small home they purchased came with some vineyard land. In the beginning, Alberto farmed conventionally but quickly became disenchanted with the use of chemicals. Gradually, he moved away from the systematic herbicide and pesticide use, and has -now- eliminated chemicals altogether, with full-fledged organic farming and some work with biodynamics; organic production is very rare in this humid Atlantic-influenced region prone to viticultural difficulties. Alberto currently tends 2,5 hectares, all trained in the traditional Pergola style and divided into 12 small parcels in the parroquias of Castrelo (South Cambados), Vilariño (North Cambados) and Padrenda (North Meaño) where he focuses in "quality over quantity" by choosing to keep yields down to 4,000 to 7,000 Kg per hectare instead of the somehow abusive 12,000 Kg that the DO Rías Baixas permits. Alberto uses seaweed from the nearby ocean for compost and does not plow in order to keep the surrounding flora and fauna in their natural habitat. After working with an enologist for several years, Alberto took over full time winemaking duties for his Nanclares wines in 2007. "In the winery, we respect the grapes as much as possible, we don't use any winemaking additions besides moderate amounts of SO2. We do not ferment with pie de cuba (pied-de-cuve) in order to preserve the identity of each vineyard." Alberto says. All of his wines are fermented with wild yeasts by parcel. Preferring the edginess of the naturally high in acidity Albariño grape, he eschews adding potassium to his wines, which is what many folks in Rías Baixas use to de-acidify and soften their wines. Malolactic fermentation rarely occurs, and the wines spend a good amount of time (usually more than one year) on their lees before being bottled without clarification or filtration.