Visits to the Pazo
A wine estate in Salnés
The Pazo and the original winery together make up the old stone building that nestles in a cloak of Galician greenery. The new entrance, however, separates the estate from the recently-built winery but in no way disturbs the overall harmony of the landscape. The winery owns ten hectares (24.7 acres) of vines within the estate and leases eight and a half more hectares outside, all of which produce the Albariño variety. The vineyard plots are located in different areas in a radius of about five kilometres. However, the soil types do not differ greatly. Most of the soils are siliceous, granitic and loose-textured sub-soils offering slight variations on a common denominator.
The wine-making process is carried out according to certain more or less established norms. Once the grapes have been picked, they are de-stemmed. This is followed by a quick settling of the juice and a short maceration in the pneumatic press. The juice is then fermented in medium-sized stainless steel vats with double cooling jackets for temperature control.
Other smaller vats of around three thousand litre-capacity are also available for experimental vinifications. The fermentation is normally begun using a starter culture, since after carrying out several trials we have found that this is the best method for obtaining floral aromas and greater complexity in the wines.
