Appellation: Arribes
Cuvée: Bébeme
Colour: Red
Grapes: Juan Garcia 100%
About: probably your introduction to, and hopefully the renaissance of, this sadly left behind but really interesting grape. Great example of why indigenous is valuable. Nice low alcohol, great freshness and delicate red berry fruits. Very limited production from very old vines. Name means “drink me”! Yes. The Wine Advocate compared it to Comando G and Fedellos do Couto but it’s a more natural, much gentler touch wine than either of those.
Vines
Location: from several parcels near Fermoselle.
Size ha: 1.
Age: vines planted between 1920 and 1940.
Soils: sand, granite, gravel and quartz.
Exposition: various gentle slopes, none south facing.
Altitude: 640-700.
Training: Gobelet.
Farming: Organic.
Average yield hl/ha: 12-18
Climate: Mediterranean with an Atlantic influence, cold in winter, hot and normally dry in summer, with cool, fresh nights.
Winemaking
Manual harvest in boxes of 16 kilo, first selection in vineyard and then a selection in the cellar before being put whole bunch and un-crushed into open 1000 L oak vats to ferment. Sees a daily pump over. In effect, a semi-carbonic process. Pressed off in a pneumatic press after 10 to 12 days of maceration to finish ferment and complete malo in 225 L used French oak barrels. Racked, a touch of SO2 added and ages in barrel around 10 months. Very light filtration at bottling, otherwise no stabilisation or clarification and no additives except for SO2.
Vintage Notes 2021
Good vintage. In the Spring, 200m rain fell. Summer was dry with cool nights. Overall it was cooler than 2020, more like 2019 with good quality and quantity. Normally the harvest takes around 3 weeks due to different altitude of the vineyards. However, 3 weeks in 60 mm of rain fell so the grapes from the last week were diluted and lower in alcohol. In style the wines are fruity with great acidity and meant no sulfites was required initially and until after the malolactic.
Yield hl/ha:
Harvested: August 26 to September 6
Bottles produced: 2100
Date bottled: 2022-08-10
Alcohol %: 11
SO2 Total: 37
Tasting: 2022-11-19 fine and elegant, with lively, mineral red berry fruits, lovely tension between richness and freshness.fro