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Falcoeira
2017
In 1994, Pablo Eguzkiza and Telmo Rodríguez, along with a third oenologist, created a Garnacha from old bush vineyards in Navarra. The wine was called Alma (soul). This is how the business started, originally under the name of Compañía de Vinos de La Granja. The name was a declaration of intent: it made it clear that the company would be producing more wines in the future and contained a homage to La Granja, the famous glassworks, a centre of outstanding Spanish craftwork that has all but...
See the COMPAÑIA DE VINOS TELMO RODRIGUEZ detail page for more information on this brand
Falcoeira in the past has always been the most important vineyard of Santa Cruz, wide and perfectly exposed to the south. Asking the older vine growers about the best place in Valdeorras, they always pointed out this vineyard. When we went there, it didn’t exist and we had to reclaim and replant the almost 100 ancient and abandoned terraces shaped in an amazing amphitheatre around the Bibei river. Our efforts to recover this “Grand Cru” have been and are immense. Intense and profound, this wine is like the place it comes from.
It surely was the terrible frost at the end of April that marked the 2017 vintage. Its low altitude and proximity to the Bibei river made Falcoeira more vulnerable than any other vineyard. This meant that just over 1,000 bottles were produced from this extraordinarily warm, dry and early vintage. However, it offered a unique, rich and complex wine.
Unique aromas of blackberries, iron and cloves, even rust. Full-bodied with very fine tannins. Long and intense with so much spice. So complete and layered, yet ever so refined. Hard not to drink now, but will age beautifully.
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A full-bodied red with lots of dusty tannins and loads of ripe-berry and flinty undertones. They just melt in the glass. A structured and rich young red. Fresh, too. Plums and dried fruit at the end. Some tea and bark. It turns to slate. Drink in 2022.
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The 2018 Falcoeira A Capilla comes from a wet and somewhat challenging year given the warm summer after a rainy spring that made them work hard in the vineyards. This comes from a field blend of Mencía, Brancellao, Sousón, Garnacha Tintorera and other grapes that they replanted on steep terraces on granite soils at 400 to 600 meters in altitude. It fermented in 3,000-kilo oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in a 2,000-liter oak foudre. It has moderate alcohol, despite being from a warm exposure. This is a wine that has been improving every year, and in the cooler 2018 vintage, it comes through as very aromatic, floral, elegant and expressive (I said "Burgundian," and Pablo didn't like it very much). It's a medium-bodied red, beautifully textured, with very fine tannins, the granite grainy feeling and a dry and long finish with pungent flavors. I love it! 1,200 bottles were filled in June 2020.
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The 2017 Falcoeira A Capilla was produced with the grapes from the field blend of Mencía, Brancellao, Sousón, Garnacha Tintorera and other grapes that they replanted in a vineyard located in a historic place in the zone, on steep terraces with granite soils at 400 to 600 meters in altitude. This fermented in 3,000-kilo oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in a 2,000-liter oak foudre. This has a warmer exposure, and 2017 was a dry and warm year. Despite all that, the wine is subtle and harmonious, quite contained, not exactly closed but with more serious nuances. It has finesse and elegance. This was harvested the last week of August, extremely early, and I think that was the right decision for this wine. It follows the path of the 2016. It seems like the vineyard has settled down and is delivering more character. I think this was the most surprising of the reds from 2017. 1,176 bottles reflect the low-yielding, dry and warm year.
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