2020 Fedellos do Couto - Ribeira Sacra Bastarda (750ml)

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From the importer: "For generations, the Taboada family has owned the Pazo do Couto, an ancient manor dating to the 12th century that over the centuries has produced a wide array of agricultural products on the decomposed granite and schist soils at the southern and eastern end of the Ribeira Sacra in the sub-zones of Ribeiras do Sil and Quiroga-Bibei. Luis Taboada, recognizing the value of his ancient, north- and east-facing vineyards, teamed up with viticulturalist Pablo Soldavini, a proponent of organic farming, and winemakers Curro Bareño and Jesús Olivares to found Fedellos do Couto in 2011. Bareño and Olivares were the talented team behind Ronsel do Sil, one of the most heralded estates in Ribeira Sacra, but both began their career in the Sierra de Gredos, where they were close friends and colleagues of Dani Landi, Fernando Garcia, and Marc Isart. This association is obvious in their wines: elegant and nuanced, but persistent and powerful."

The Fedellos do Couto found a smattering of old Trousseau (aka. Bastarda) vines high on the slopes of Ribeira Sacra and bottled them as a single-varietal offering. It's instructive, not to mention pleasurable, to taste this variety outside of its homeland in the Jura, as the flavor profile modifies ever so slightly in this new terroir, yet retains many of its hallmarks. These 20-70 year old vines’ fruit is left whole cluster, macerates for 40-70 days, and ferments in stainless steel tanks with native yeasts before aging in large, old French wood for 7 months. I just love this wine with rare, buttery steak—it cuts through it like an herbaceous, cherry knife. You may not think to go to lighter-bodied energetic reds with red meat, but it’s one of my favorite pairings. Bombastic powerhouses aren't the only wines capable of pairing to red meat: for the record.