Viña de Martín Escolma Blanco 2021 | Luis Anxo Rodríguez | Ribeiro

He works out of the adega his grandfather built, and it is called Viña de Martín after the first vineyard he inherited: the one that belonged to his uncle Martín.

He is one of the most senior colleiteiros in Ribeiro — in Galicia that is what they call a grower who makes wine only from his own fruit. He studied oenology and philosophy in Madrid, travelled the great regions of Europe and went on to chair the Ribeiro DO.

There are just under six hectares spread across close to two hundred micro-plots, nearly all in Arnoia, home to some of the steepest south-facing vineyards in Ribeiro. Sixty per cent goes to white and forty to red, with native varieties: treixadura, lado, ferrón, caíño and brancellao. He led the revival of those grapes against high-yielding clones, and he is the one who brought red wine back to Ribeiro.

Eidos Ermos — «barren field» — comes from twenty-nine plots on terraces of decomposed granite, between 100 and 230 metres: albariño and treixadura at 30% each, lado and Galician torrontés at 20%. It ferments in stainless steel and spends eight months on fine lees, with no oak.

Viña de Martín Escolma is the same blend, but pressed without destemming and aged twelve months in French oak — six of them on lees — plus another twelve in bottle.