If there was just one man you could know making Albariño in Galicia, it would be Eulogio Pomares, the culty operator of the great Zarate estate. Get to know him, and soon you will learn... Read More

If there was just one man you could know making Albariño in Galicia, it would be Eulogio Pomares, the culty operator of the great Zarate estate. Get to know him, and soon you will learn that Galicia – and Eulogio himself – can offer far more than just Albarino. 

Eulogio is a wine-maker, yes, but also a poet, a dreamer, a philosopher. He believes in tradition. He believes in the Galician terroir. But he also believes in experimenting. Who else, for example, would even think of bottle aging an Albarino for 5 years before releasing it?

This experimentation has led us Eulogio to other grapes – and even to other colors of wines. His “Castineiro” is a red Galician wine made 100% from the local grape Espadeiro. 

Espadeiro is not confined to Spanish borders. Just across the border with Portugal, it is sometimes added to Vinho Verdes to produce Vinho Verde “rosé”. It can be quite delightful. But in Galicia, Eulogio is seeking something higher. Still, he wants a lighter wine, but in the sense that the tannins are elegant and the acidities are refreshing.

Mostly, what he is looking for is the expression of terroir, and indeed he makes this wine as part of what he calls his “Parcelarios” series – using a term for “single vineyard” that seems familiar to the Champagne nerds who geeks about that region’s “parcellaire” wines. This wine comes from a site overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, rich with alluvial soils. 

Wine-making includes natural fermentation, a two-week post-fermentation maceration and a few months of aging in used oak barrels.