Ladeiras do Xil O Diviso Valdeorras 2020
Ladeiras do Xil O Diviso Valdeorras 2020
The pioneering duo of Pablo Eguzkiza and Telmo Rodríguez started working in the Val do Bibei in 2002. Recognizing the potential to make world-class wines in this historic valley, they began a project restoring vineyards that would take more than a decade to come to fruition.
Ladeiras do Xil is named for the hillsides along the Sil River (literally “slopes of the Sil”), which, along with the Miño River, is the lifeblood of the Ourense province, including the Valdeorras and Ribeira Sacra wine regions. Ladeiras do Xil produces a highly-coveted collection of extremely low-production, single-vineyard grand cru red wines: Valbuxán, As Caborcas, Falcoeira, and O Diviso, along with two white wines: Branco de Santa Cruz and Falcoeira Branco. All are field blends of indigenous grape varietals reflecting the purity and transcendence of one of the most exceptional terroirs in Europe. Ladeiras do Xil is a life’s project to recover and vindicate the exceptional sites along the Sil and Bibei rivers, uncovering their grand cru potential.
The O Diviso vineyard, located near the village of As Ermitas and its centuries-old monastery on the Bibei river, has always been unique for its steep green slopes and slightly hidden location among chestnut trees at an altitude of 700m with northwest exposure. Telmo and Pablo began the painstaking work of recovering the vineyard in 2011. They feel that O Diviso is probably the most authentic expression of Valdeorras on the slopes of the Bibei and that the cru has limitless potential.
In total, the vineyard is 2.9ha, of which they are farming 1.2ha of old vines of mencía, garnacha, merenzao, mouratón, and caíño tinto. They are still in the process of recuperating the other 1.7ha from the forest, which had swallowed the ancient vineyard. This vineyard is their highest altitude and the one they harvest last. The decomposed granitic soils are shallow, acidic, and coarse-textured, known locally as sábrego. Wines from O Diviso are ultra-ethereal and graceful, with great tension and subtlety. O Diviso is refined and serious, with the finesse and length that only the world’s greatest vineyards are capable of. Viticulture is organic, the grapes are hand-harvested, and wines are made with low intervention. O Diviso is extremely limited.
Vinification –Following a manual harvest in small crates, fermentation begins spontaneously with native yeasts in old 3,000L oak vats. The wine is then aged for 12 months in neutral 600L French oak foudres before being fined with egg whites and bottled unfiltered.