“Lalume” White Ribeiro 2020 – Dominio do Bibei

The grapes to produce the “Lalume” White Ribeiro Dominio do Bibei were hand-picked and sorted in the vineyard, with the vineyard parcels vinified separately based on zone, soil type and elevation. The fruit was cold settled at 2ºC for 24 hours prior to being pressed and racked. Fermentation using indigenous yeasts took place in a mix of 600 litre new and old barrels, 1200 and 2400 litre casks, ovoid concrete tanks and 2000 litre stainless-steel tanks. The wine was then aged on fine lees in 12,000 litre stainless-steel tanks.

Vines are grown at varying altitudes from 200 to 700 metres, scattered across a large, north-facing hillside with schist and granite soils, flecked with slate, quartz and iron. The vine age varies between 10 and 30 years old. The region’s Atlantic climate, with an average annual rainfall of 700mm mostly concentrated in the winter and spring months, helps retain freshness and acidity in the fruit. The summer and autumn are drier, with a large diurnal range.

Since his first vintage in 2001, Javier Dominguez’s Dominio do Bibei has been widely acknowledged as the driving force behind the emergence of quality wines in Spain’s historic Ribeira Sacra. In the late 1990s, Javier Dominguez family bought land in the Bibei valley, Ribeira’s most easterly sub-region, and today they own a 140 hectare estate, of which 45 hectares are planted with vines. Since then, he has worked tirelessly to revive the region and its indigenous vines, undertaking what is known locally as ‘heroic viticulture’. There are far easier places to make wine than in Ribeira Sacra. But Javier Dominguez, along with his consultant winemakers, Priorat’s Sara Pérez and René Barbier, are united in a common belief in this spectacular landscape, its ancient character and, most of all, its capacity to produce Spain’s most distinctive wines.