The Ribeiro region in the northwest of Spain near the Portuguese border has long been overshadowed by the Rias Baixas region further northwest. However, while the wines made from the Alvarinho variety from Rias Baixas have already made a name for themselves since the beginning of the 21st century at the latest and have found many fans of this racy style of wine, the wines from Ribeiro are still waiting for their big discovery. However, thanks to producers such as Viña Meín, this should not be long in coming. The region offers dedicated winemakers a veritable Eldorado, for example for white wines, with a variety of exciting indigenous grape varieties such as Alvarinho, Treixadura, Godello, Loureiro and Torrontes. Incidentally, the latter is not related to the Argentinian variety of the same name. For red wines, there are Caino Longo, Mencia or Brancellao in the vineyards, which can lead to exciting, original wines in the rather cool climate influenced by the Atlantic. Before the Viña Meín winery was established, founder Emilio Rojo worked abroad as an engineer. But he was drawn back to his native Galicia, where he started growing grapes on a small abandoned vineyard owned by the family. Like everywhere else in Ribeiro, the vines here grow on steep terraces on granite soils. The vineyard, Viña Meín, also lent its name to a village, as wine was already being grown here in the Middle Ages. Gradually, the parcels were converted to sustainable and organic cultivation. Today, the estate covers 17 hectares, planted with the autochthonous varieties of Galicia. Since the highly talented winemaker Alma Carraovejas joined the company, it has gained considerable momentum and is now not only one of the best wineries in the region, but experts consider the white wines from Vina Mein to be among the very best in Spain. However, production is only around 80,000 bottles, 75% of which are white wines. But the red wines from Brancellao and Caino Longo are also impressive. They all share a high degree of finesse, elegance and, above all, mineral freshness due to the granite terroir and cool climate.
