Do Ferreiro

He did not choose the name of the wine. When Gerardo Méndez was looking for something to call his first bottle, a neighbour told him the name already existed: to the whole village his wine was «o albariño do ferreiro», because his father was the blacksmith and Ferreiro was the family's nickname. Ferreiro means blacksmith in Galician.

The house is in Meaño, in the Val do Salnés. Gerardo made his first harvest in 1973 with his father and bottled his first vintage-labelled wine in 1986. His was one of the fourteen wineries that founded the DO Rías Baixas in 1988.

Right in front of the house is Cepas Vellas, a pre-phylloxera vineyard more than two hundred years old holding the oldest documented Albariño vines in Rías Baixas. The family keeps a document from 1790 attesting to the existence of the house and that vineyard.

Adina comes from forty-five-year-old vines planted on red slate, a soil that is uncommon in the area. It is 100% albariño.

It is destemmed and given a cold skin maceration. It ferments with a selected pied de cuve and ages nine months on lees in stainless steel.