Quinta da Muradella
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Country of Origin: Spain
Location: Ourense, Monterrei
People: Jose Luis Mateo Garcia, Owner & Winemaker
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Since the 1990's, this tiny Monterrei passion project has been lovingly run by Jose Luis Mateo, considered by many to be the greatest vigneron in the red-hot Galicia region. His many plantings range from the beloved Mencia to Bastardo, Brancellao and Treixadura to the arcane Monstruosa. In all, Jose cultivates two dozen Galician varieties. With a perfectionist streak bordering on obsessiveness, Jose Luis often waits years to release his wines. In the process, they have become some of Spain's most coveted cult wines.
In the late 1980s, a young José Luis Mateo made a decision that shook his blue-collar parents: He was quitting university in Madrid and returning to his far-flung home in Verín, a tiny Galician town five miles from the Portuguese border, to make wine. He started Quinta da Muradella in 1990, and originally paid the bills by producing wine for the family taberna. But over time, the unassuming vigneron saw his reputation soar; first in his native Galicia, then among young Spanish sommeliers who were looking for more freshness and terroir in their wines. Finally, the cult became international in scope.
Spain’s verdant Galicia may be better known for Rías Baixas, Ribeiro, and Ribeira Sacra, but its greatest hidden jewel is tiny Monterrei, hugging the Portuguese border. Monterrei is far and away the smallest Galician appellation by vine plantings, and while it remains unknown to many, its history and pedigree run extraordinarily deep. Grape growing can be traced back to Roman times, and Val de Monterrei wines were prized and sold throughout Spain’s American colonies as early as the 1500s.
The region boasts an incredible diversity of soils, exposures, and grape varieties. An ancient north-south fault created a valley in the mountains that was eventually filled by the Tamega River. The geological folding mixed an incredible range of slate, schist, and other mineral veins into the hillsides, and the Tamega spread that diversity across the lower elevations.
Vineyards are located anywhere between 300m and 700m of elevation, and expositions are equally varied. Soils can change multiple times across a single site. Likewise, there is a tremendous range of local grape varieties cultivated here. The nearly infinite possible combinations of varieties, soils, exposures, and altitudes offers the opportunity for wines of dizzying complexity.
In addition, this remarkable grape-growing climate lies at a transition point between coastal and continental influences. The warm summer days are ideal for ripening grapes, while the mountainous surroundings and cooling Atlantic influence help retain freshness.
Pick any hour of any day, and chances are you’ll find José Luis roaming his vineyards with well-worn boots, a warm jacket and glasses perched atop his widow’s peak. He is a man glued to the vine, with probing eyes that have long been uninterested in artificial light.
If you do find him indoors, it’s likely in one of two places: his small cellar where he hand-makes a couple thousand cases of wine, or his even smaller family bar a half-mile’s walk away, home to rustic, hearty meals, and healthy pours of his own wine.
With time, he has come to appreciate the mix of varieties in his oldest vineyards. He is also slowly converting some of his younger, wire-trained vineyards to traditional bush pruning, believing that it is better adapted to his terroirs, and helps temper the effects of warmer, drier summers.
He brings that same fastidious nature to bear in his tiny cellar. Aside from spontaneous ferments, minimal sulfur additions, and unfined/unfiltered bottlings, José Luis is always adapting; he’ll never use a standardized formula. He trials various vessels, blends, and aging lengths, and never has a set bottling date. He is always patient, only releasing the wines when they are ready. And even then, he always obsesses with what he could have done better