Fedellos loosely translates as "Brats", and Couto refers to the 12th century manor in Ribeira Sacra at the heart of the vineyards. It's a young project, started in 2013 by winemakers Curro Barreño and Jesús Olivares and Luis Taboada (whose family has owned the Couto manor for generations). They lease a small selection of vineyards which are farmed organically and worked by hand - you couldn't do otherwise on these steep terraces! The vines are planted on terraces along the steep slopes of the rivers Sil and Bibei, with a myriad of grape varieties, altitudes, and expositions. The wines are fermented with indigenous yeasts and whole bunches, at low temperatures to favour a gentle extraction of colour and phenolics. All the wines share an Atlantic freshness and a slatey minerality that make these wines unmistakably Galician.
The 'Cortezada' is 100% Mencia from a single vineyard, aged in a mixture of concrete and large oak. It is a round, juicy and velvety wine with fine tannins, wild berry and herb flavours, a tobacco earthiness and ending with a lovely minerality.
93+/100 pts Luis Gutiérrez, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
