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Persistence of Memory* (Salvador Dalí) Five-Watch Rating
Adega Manuel Formigo
Cabo de Vila, 49
32431 Beade (Ourense), Galicia
info@fincateira.com
www.fincateira.com
by Gerry Dawes*, Founder / Jefe
The Spanish Artisan Wine Group - Gerry Dawes Selections
*Spanish National Gastronomy Prize 2003
Agustín Formigo Raña, his wife María del Carmen de la Fuente de la Torre and their son, winemaker Manuel Formigo de la Fuente, the Formigo family of viticulturists and winemakers, has been closely connected with wines from the Ribeiro for many generations in the village of Beade. Beade is in Ourense, one of the four provinces of emerald Galicia in northwestern Spain just north of the border with Portugal and is just a few kilometers north of the ancient town of Ribadavia, which has one of the best preserved medieval Jewish quarters in Spain (see slide show below).
(Double-click on the images and go to Picasa, then click on "slide show" and F11 for a full-screen view.)
Adega Manuel Formigo makes primarily white wines of character and quality, reflecting the greatness of his family’s vineyards and the arduous and meticulous work that the Formigo family performs the whole year in their small winery and in their five vineyards scattered around Beade. Formigo means ant in Gallego and some of their wines display an the silhouette of an ant on the labels, symbolic of the family name and their propensity for hard work.
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The Wines of Adega Manuel Formigo:
Finca Teira Blanco 2010** (D.O. Ribeiro), 12.7% alcohol, $19.99 per bottle SRP.
Production: 1100 cases, 100 available for the United States, just 50 cases on the first order.
Grape Varieties: Treixadura (65%) , Godello (20%), Torrontés (15%). Exclusively from free-run must from selected grapes from the Miñoteira y Portela vineyards. 90+ points.
Brilliant, profound green-gold. Impressive, expressive nose of honeysuckle and peach. After ten minutes, the wine opens up to show a beautiful, spicy sweet fruit reminiscent of honeysuckle and white peach, bracing acidity and a long mineral-laced finish.
Teira X Blanco 2010* (D.O. Ribeiro), 13% alcohol; $26.99 per bottle SRP.
Production: 335 6-bottle cases, of which 40 cases are available for the U.S. market. We are getting 10 cases on the first shipment.
Grape Varieties: Treixadura (60%), Alvilla (15%), Albariño (15%), Loureira (10%)
Made from grapes from selected 30–year old Treixadura vines, along with alvilla, albariño and loureira grapes, all from the Formigo’s top vineyard, Finca Miño Teira.
Flashes of deep green-gold. This simple had only been in bottle for two months and was still somewhat closed, but showed hints of stone fruits and minerality. Tiera X has excellent structure and acidity with hints of tropical fruit, honeysuckle and coconut that expand in the glass with aeration and are underpinned with that haunting granite minerality. 95 points.
Postnote (3/29/2012): Since these wines have been in the U.S., I have had a number of opportunities not just to taste the wines of Manuel Formigo, but to drink them with meals. The quality is exceptional and I am ordering as much of these wines as Manuel can give me.
--Tasting notes by Gerry Dawes.
Manuel Formigo with his Teira X white wine.
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