Started in 1986 by Alejandro Luna, farming 30 hectares between Finca Valdetruchas and the old high parcels at Dragonte in Corullón, on slate and clay-limestone, with vines over 60 years old on south-facing slopes.
Tasting: Finca Valdetruchas vineyard visits by prior reservation. Winter weekdays 08:00 to 16:00, summer weekdays 07:00 to 15:00.
Signature wines: Paixar Viña de Vaca, Paixar A Serra, Viña La Recuperada, Finca Luna Beberide
The Bierzo arm of the Galician cooperative Bodegas Martín Códax, based on Calle Santa María in Cacabelos and built around Mencía under the bear label. The cellar does not receive visitors.
Tasting: The bodega states that its cellar is currently closed to the public and that it runs no enoturismo visits.
Signature wines: Cuatro Pasos, Cuatro Pasos Black, Martín Sarmiento, Pizarras de Otero, Cuatro Pasos Rosé
Cacabelos cooperative on Avenida de la Constitución, now carrying the Vinos Guerra house whose own history is dated to 1879, with Armas de Guerra as its main label.
Signature wines: Señorío del Bierzo Godello, Señorío del Bierzo Mencía, Armas de Guerra Godello, Armas de Guerra Roble, Armas de Guerra Joven
Cellar on the Magaz de Arriba road out of Cacabelos, bottling a Mencía range plus the Oncedo pair in Mencía and Godello.
Tasting: The winery invites visitors to see the vineyards and cellar and taste the range. Contact via the producer site.
Signature wines: Ribas del Cúa, Oncedo Mencía
Founded in 2005 on the Villafranca road out of Cacabelos, working 12 hectares of small plots in Pieros and Valtuille with Amancio Fernández making the wines since the start.
Tasting: Cellar open Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 14:00 and 15:00 to 18:00.
Signature wines: Losada, Altos de Losada, La Bienquerida, La Senda del Diablo, El Cepón, La Chana
Three tiers of booked visit at the Cacabelos winery, from a cellar walk to a vineyard tour, closing on Mencía and Godello from the estate's own parcels.
The Cacabelos table Godelia sends its Pack Gastro guests to, in a 17th-century pilgrims' hospital with a wisteria courtyard and an attached vinoteca.
The co-operative's own shop at Cacabelos, the cheapest honest way into DO Bierzo, with Armas de Guerra Godello at EUR 8,25 and the Guerra orujo at EUR 10,45.
The shop side of the Moncloa, mixing a Bierzo wine list with the comarca's cheese, cecina, preserves and aguardientes under one roof at Cacabelos.
The DO's own fair, held on the Plaza Mayor of Cacabelos on the last weekend of April, with producers pouring side by side and tasting talks at the M.AR.CA museum.
Tip: The tasting talks run in the Museo Arqueológico on Calle Las Angustias, a few minutes' walk from the Plaza Mayor. Streets around the square close for the fair.
Cacabelos opens the comarca's harvest calendar in late August with its Fiesta de la Vendimia, listed by the Ruta del Vino del Bierzo among the town's annual wine dates.
Tip: The fiesta runs before most of the fruit is actually picked. If you want to see harvest itself, come back in the second half of September.
The Cacabelos co-operative, trading since 1879, keeps an orujo, a herb liqueur, a cream liqueur and a vermouth range alongside its DO Bierzo wines.
Tasting: Sold at the Cacabelos cellar door and the co-operative's online shop; no separate distillery tour
Three rooms of Bierzo winemaking kit: 19th-century pruning shears and sulphur sprayers, filters, racking pumps and stills, and a wall of old labels.
Built in 1892 and converted into a bodega in 1936, the museum kept its twelve storage tinos and the basement lagar when it opened to the public in 2008.
A 17th-century pilgrims' hospital on the Camino at Cacabelos, now eight rooms around a wisteria courtyard, with a casa de comidas downstairs.
The list: Wine list built on DO Bierzo Mencía and Godello, an attached vinoteca selling bottles by the case, and a vermouth hour with music in the courtyard
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