Each one of our wines is produced through a different vinification processes, continuing work carried out on the vineyards throughout the year to create wines with their own hints and characters.
We produce young albariños using traditional winemaking from the area, macerated with their skins and malolactic fermentation with the brand Fulget. For Fulget Cuvée we carry out macerations with on the skins at very low temperatures and a shorter alcoholic fermentation, without malolactic. In both we prioritize the varietal intensity and the Atlantic freshness, but we achieve two very different wines.
Maturing on lees
But there is no doubt that the process that has made us famous and different from the rest of the Rías Baixas DO is the use of lees, in which we have been pioneers. It is a technique we have been employing since our first harvest, when it was almost unknown in Galicia, and in which we pioneered the first on lees brand in the DO.
“Maior de Mendoza Sobre Lias”, comes from our oldest vineyards of over than 40 years. It is fermented with native yeasts and rests on its fine lees for a minimum of 3 months in stainless steel tanks with battonage.
We also lees age our Maior de Mendoza 3 Crianzas for 9 months, and our Finca las Tablas for a year and a half. Both from single plots and with delicate processes where the lees take on great prominence during their long winemaking
What are lees ageing and why is it now so fashionable?
Lees ageing in nothing new: it has been used in Europe to improve wines for many decades, but here in Galicia it has been used for much longer, albeit unwittingly!
Some of our grandparents, when they were making albariño at home, let it rest after fermenting with the dead yeasts (lees), or they did not wait for them to rush to the bottom to discover it, and that wine went with traces of yeast (lees) to do an ageing "on lees" but without being moved (battonage).
When we set out to grow and vinify albariño, that memory of the wine of our grandparents, was always present. The key was to have control of the grape, which is not usual here. The next question we asked ourselves was why, for example, a Chardonnay could evolve so well in the bottle? With these historical burgundies, one of the answers was the aging on lees and how respectful it is with the variety. That brought us back our grandparents and their natural wisdom, to restart this long road that has brought us here.
What is resting on lees?
It is the process of ageing wine while in contact with its dead yeasts. Aging on lees is based on a process called autolysis: the breaking down of the walls of dead yeast cells (lees) and transferring them to the wine in which they are contained, creating nano-proteins, which give the wine intensity, volume, complexity and stability.
What is Battonage?
It is the process of stirring and agitating the lees so that they are kept in suspension in the tank and therefore in greater contact with the wine.
