Terra do Gargalo

This beautiful, hard to get to area lies at the southern tip of Ourense in a spectacular setting of mountains and deep river valleys which are tributaries of the Támega river. Wine-making here goes back hundreds of years, indeed Monterrey California takes its name from here. US wine writer Gerry Dawes takes up the story: "I was drawn to Monterrei by one particular adega - as bodegas are called in Galicia.

Gargalo, the producer of Terra do Gargalo, a light, racy, mineral-laced, but nicely fruity wine that Iberia Airlines serves its business class passengers. Gargalo is located in Verín, a quaint, sprawling town that is watered by the Tamega River and located less than ten miles north of the Portuguese border. Mountainous terrain, denuded of vegetation by widespread fires of suspicious nature that have plagued Galicia for the past several summers, surrounds the town.

Adegas Gargalo is a small winery with a chic, modern cubist design that befits owner Roberto Verino, a Spanish fashion designer and Verín native. Located just down the hill from the castle and the parador, Gargalo is set amid sloping vineyards planted primarily with the native white grapes treixadura, godello and dona blanca; and native red varieties arauxa, mencia and bastarda (some wineries here also have the equally ill-named monstruosa, a white grape). There is also a fascinating experimental vineyard planted with a wide variety of primarily white grapes that are described to me by Rosa Salgado, Gargalo's shy, but informative enologist, who leads me on a tour of winery and vineyards. She explains that the trellised main vineyards, now some 20 years old, are predominately planted in treixadura, godello and mencia.

Back in the winery, Roberto Verino's status as a top designer is underscored by the large blowups of models wearing his clothing juxtaposed against horizontal Bucher presses and large blowups of Gargalo wine bottles. Wines of Gargalo: Although I had tasted a couple of previous vintages of the Terra do Gargalo white wines at 35,000 feet, this would be my first encounter with them on terra firma.

In the tasting room, Salgado pours two whites that had been opened the day before and refrigerated (I wonder if American wine writers don't rate freshly opened bottles?). The Terra do Gargalo Blanco 2005, a blend of 50 percent treixadura, 30 percent godello and 20 percent dona branca, was still fresh and lively, too, with bracing acid and distinctive spice, almond and mineral notes." Small as it may be - and of course all wines Galician are bound to live in the shadow of Rías Baixas - this 690 hectare DO, and in particular Terra do Gargalo, show how exciting, intensely flavoured, and different the best wines of this large, Co-op dominated area can be.