Abadía da Cova ‘Veitureira’ 2022
Abadía da Cova ‘Veitureira’ 2022
Abadía da Cova is a fourth-generation family winery on the banks of the Miño River in Galicia’s Ribeira Sacra wine region. Today, the winery is led by siblings Paloma and Adrián Rodríguez Moure and their cousin José Moure, who all grew up surrounded by the steep, vine-covered slopes where their family has been making wine for over a century. Abadía da Cova takes its name from an abbey, or abadía, that once stood in the local village of A Cova and holds deep family significance as the birthplace of their great-grandmother.
Abadía da Cova’s single parcel wines represent a commitment to both terruño and the future: as temperatures in Ribeira Sacra rise and the once-prized Amandi subzone trends towards riper and riper vintages, the cooler Ribeiras do Miño subzone and high-acid varieties such as Merenzao and Brancellao will undoubtedly become more and more important to producing quality wines. The visionary leadership of Abadía da Cova proves that the family that has invested emotionally and financially in this region for generations is destined to become as much an iconic part of the landscape as the river valleys themselves.
Veitureira comes from a single vineyard known as A Veitureira, or “birthplace of vultures” in the Galician language, which the Moure family has been working for years. A Veitureira is located at 420 meters above sea level on slopes of 59% gradient, around 200 meters from the winery. The site is planted to the historic Brancellao (once the most widely-planted variety in Ribeira Sacra) and Mencía, with vines averaging 15 – 40 years of age. Quartz-rich granite soils and the site’s location close to the Miño River allow the late-ripening Brancellao to achieve a long, slow maturation and produce top-quality grapes.
Vinification — Grapes are hand-harvested in 20kg crates with a first selection made in the vineyard and a second selection before entering the cellar. Grapes ferment with native yeasts in open-topped 2000L French oak foudres and the wine later ages 9 months in 420L second- and third-use barrels.