La Perdida: The Island Wines from Valdeorras
Controlled chaos.
This was the phrase that kept coming to me when I visited Nacho Gonzalez on a rainy cool day last spring with the Jose Pastor team.
He met us and welcomed us with ease - a soft spoken man with gentle amused eyes, dark rimmed glasses, and warm knit cap. He guided us to all his “island wine” vineyards — the forgotten parcels that live in the shadows of the Valdeorras hills. This fascination with bringing a second chance to these remote vineyards came when his grandmother gifted him O Troncado. He has nursed to health six vineyards now covering roughly 4 hectares (organically farmed, biodynamic inputs).
As explained on the Jose Pastor website: "The name La Perdida, translating to “The Lost,” is a well-chosen one. As the story goes, other farmers in the area walked by Nacho’s vineyards and could barely see the grape vines which were tucked away behind wild and wallowing grass that was growing up around them. The local farmers deemed the vineyard “perdida” and Nacho “a loco” for not using herbicides to control the unbridled growth in the vineyard. They viewed his work to be that of a crazy person, which only added to his “islandish” attitude."
While there is a fair bit of Valdeorras being developed for somewhat innocuous versions of Godello, Nacho steadfastly pushes against this lack of engagement with what these native grapes could become. He believes these ancient hills have more to say. He teases out this character with numerous techniques and mediums. His favored vessels, though, are the tinajas (clay amphora) and old barrels. I included some pictures from the trip to show you just how wild some of these ferments were! He never performs any analysis — everything is by sight, feel, taste… intuition.
The following are descriptions from JPS of the wines we are expecting:
La Perdida 'Proscrito' Clarete 2021
Comes from various parcels of ancient, low yielding vines in Larouco that Nacho has been renting since 2014. Made mostly with Palomino and about 10% Garnacha Tintorera, the grapes are hand-harvested, destemmed, and ferment with the skins in tinaja, then pressed to used barrels of Chestnut and French Oak to rest before being bottled without fining, filtration or added SO2.
La Perdida "O Trancado" GT-Mencia 2021
Comes from an old vineyard of the same name which Nacho inherited from his grandmother and recuperated. These ancient Garnacha Tintorera & Mencía vines yield less than 1kg of fruit per plant. The grapes are hand-harvested and destemmed, fermented with their skins in open-top plastic fermenters for about 20 days without temperature control. As fermentation proceeds, Nacho gradually removes the skins until just the must remains about half-way through. Fermentation completed, the wine is pressed to stainless steel tank to rest before being bottled without fining, filtration or added SO2.
La Perdida "A Mallada" G-S 2021
Comes from three adjacent parcels of ancient, low-yielding vines on granitic soils near Seadur in Valdeorras. The grapes are hand-harvested and destemmed, fermented with their skins in open-top plastic fermenters for about 20 days without temperature control. As fermentation proceeds, Nacho gradually removes the skins until just the must remains about half-way through. Fermentation completed, the wine is pressed to old barrels of Chestnut and French Oak to rest before being bottled without fining, filtration or added SO2.
La Perdida "La Meu” 2021
A new wine made in tribute to Nacho’s close friends (“Meu” means mine in Gallego). It is a field blend of red and white grapes from an ancient vineyard that Nacho is currently rehabilitating. The grapes are hand-harvested and destemmed, fermented with their skins in open-top plastic fermenters for about 20 days without temperature control. As fermentation proceeds, Nacho gradually removes the skins until just the must remains about half-way through. Fermentation completed, the wine is pressed to stainless steel tank to rest before being bottled without fining, filtration or added SO2.
La Perdida 'O Pando' Godello Orange 2021
Comes from a collection of adjacent parcels of old, low yielding Godello vines in the Viña do O Pando vineyard. The grapes are hand-harvested and destemmed and ferment for about one week with their skins in 400L tinajas before pressing into 400L tinajas and old Chestnut and French Oak barrels to rest for 4 months. The finished wine is bottled without fining, filtration or added SO2.
La Perdida 'O Pando' Godello 2021
A selection from the top of the anfora for O Pando, reserved to rest on the skins in that anfora without stirring for 6 months. The finished wine is bottled without fining, filtration or added SO2.
La Perdida 'Malas Uva Blanco 2021
100% Palomino from old vines throughout the vineyards that Nacho works in Valdeorras,. These ancient, low-yielding Palomino vines are hand-harvested separately from the rest of the vines and destemmed, wild yeast fermented in tinaja with about one week of skin maceration, then raised over winter on the lees in the same vessel for 5 months and bottled without fining, filtration or added SO2. Nacho named this wine “Malas Uvas” since these white grapes are not permitted under the Valdeorras D.O., showing his rebellious side yet again.
La Perdida 'O Poulo' Garnacha Tintorera 2021
Comes from an old vineyard on clay soils in Larouco that Nacho has been renting since 2014, with ancient, low-yielding vines. The vineyard (Viña do O Poulo) is on clay soils planted to Garnacha Tintorera with a little Palomino at the far end. The grapes are hand-harvested and destemmed, fermented with their skins in open-top plastic fermenters for about 20 days without temperature control. As fermentation proceeds, Nacho gradually removes the skins until just the must remains about half-way through. Fermentation completed, the wine is pressed to stainless steel tank to rest before being bottled without fining, filtration or added SO2.
La Perdida 'A Seara' Ribeira Sacra 2021
Nacho's first wine from the Val do Bibei in Ribeira Sacra, an area that shares many traits with his home area of Larouco. This is a field blend of 60% red (Mouraton, Mencia, Garnacha Tintorera) and 40% white grapes (Godello, Palomino, Dona Blanca) harvested together and cofermented. Like his other red wines, the grapes are hand- harvested, de-stemmed, and fermented with their skins in open-top plastic fermenters for about 20 days without temperature control. As fermentation proceeds, Nacho gradually removes the skins until just the must remains about half-way through. Fermentation completed, the wine is pressed to stainless steel tank to rest before being bottled without fining, filtration or added SO2.