The “bible” of Galician wines, better known as the Guía de vinos, destilados y bodegas de Galicia, directed by Luis Paadín, has just awarded Pazo de La Cuesta wines six medals: two Grand Gold, one Gold+, two Golds, and one Silver.
This publication is a benchmark in the national and international wine scene. This is accredited by awards such as the International Wine Merchant Awards as best wine guide 2019, or the Gourmand Awards, in the category of special jury award as best beverage book in the world 2017, and best wine and tourism book in Spain 2013.
In this new edition of the guide, six of the wines from Galicia’s oldest family winery are highlighted, with the following distinctions:
–Great Gold: La Pastoriza 2022, a white wine made mainly with Godello from 40-year-old vines, arranged on trellises. The blend is completed with a small contribution of Albariño and Treixadura. It is aged in French oak foudres on fine lees for eight months. It has a limited production of 1,987 bottles, all of them numbered.
–Great Gold: Brancellao 2022, a red wine made from the native Brancellao grape, which comes from our own plots with trellised vines of an average age of 40 years.
–Gold+: Godello 2023, a white made from one of Galicia’s quintessential grapes: Godello. This same vintage already obtained a Gran Oro in the VinEspaña 2024 competition, becoming the only high distinction for this variety in the Ribeira Sacra.
–Gold: Gold: Batanero 2022, a red wine made mainly with mencía grapes from 40-year-old vines, arranged on trellises, completed with a subtle touch of merenzao and sousón. The aging took place in French oak vats. It has a limited production of 2,046 numbered bottles.
–Gold: Mencía 2022, a Mencía red wine from own plots with 40-year-old trellised vines, where respectful pruning is used, regulating production with a minimum load of grapes on each vine and with well-distributed clusters, which allows the fruit to ripen correctly. In this way, they achieve wines of 13 degrees, which show the freshness and characteristics of the area, with a good balance with the time spent in oak.
–Silver: Brancas 2023, a white wine made from three of the four Galician white varieties: treixadura, albariño, and loureira, from a micro-plot of 6,000 m2, with 40 and 60 year old trellised vines.
PAZO DE LA CUESTA: THE OLDEST FAMILY WINERY IN GALICIA
Since 2020, Pazo de La Cuesta, located in San Clodio (Ribas de Sil), has been immersed in a project of renovation and recovery of its historic vineyard and the restoration of the primitive cellar of the sixteenth century. The oldest family winery in Galicia has belonged to the same family since its foundation and it has been Manuel Bellod Álvarez de Lorenzana, who is part of the fourteenth generation, the one in charge of starting this initiative assuming the commitment to return the prestige of yesteryear to the pazo, its vineyard and its wines.
Recently, the Padre Sarmiento Institute of Galician Studies, belonging to the Higher Center for Scientific Research (CSIC), has conducted an in-depth study of numerous historical documents housed in 48 large boxes of the Pazo de La Cuesta.
This research has revealed that wine has been produced on the property since at least 1608, making it the oldest family winery in Galicia and one of the longest-lived in Spain, after 14 generations of continuous winemaking activity.
