Biodynamic PracticingCorullón
Álvaro Palacios and his nephew Ricardo Pérez Palacios farm very old vines in their own name at Corullón under biodynamic discipline, assembled parcel by parcel on the slate and quartzite slopes above the village since 1999. Ricardo Pérez translated Nicolas Joly's book on biodynamic growing into Spanish. The estate publishes no Demeter or Biodyvin certificate, so the honest reading is biodynamic practice rather than certified biodynamics.
Tip: Villa de Corullón blends fruit from a large number of small plots on those slopes, and it is the bottle that shows what the farming buys.
ORGANIC CERTIFIEDVillafranca del Bierzo
Pérez Caramés has made organic wine at Villafranca del Bierzo since 1982, and its El Toleiro site runs to 32 hectares given over entirely to organic growing. The estate builds its visit around the vineyard's flora and fauna and how they change through the season, which is a more useful way of showing the farming than a certificate on a wall.
Tip: The two-hour Visita El Toleiro walks the organic vineyard before the tasting, and costs EUR 20 per person.
ORGANIC CERTIFIEDCanedo
The Canedo estate farms all of its vineyards organically, makes its own compost and states that it uses neither systemic products nor herbicides. The vines run from the Palacio up the slopes towards Campelo to 800 metres, on gradients reaching 28 percent, planted to Mencía, Godello and Chardonnay.
Tip: All three of the Palacio's guided tastings pour organic wines, from the EUR 20 Picantal to the EUR 40 Premium flight of two Mencías and two Godellos.
ORGANIC CERTIFIEDQuilós
Gancedo grows and vinifies its own fruit across parcels arranged in a horseshoe around the Quilós cellar, taking in Pieros, Canedo, San Miguel and San Juan de la Mata between 600 and 750 metres. The estate holds CAECYL certification for organic farming, the Castilla y León organic council, and works close to 100 hectares of its own organic vineyard.
Tip: The Godello is concentrated at Lamas de Picón in Canedo, above 650 metres beside an old Roman castro, on sandy loam with stonier patches.
ORGANIC CERTIFIEDCarracedelo
Casar de Burbia's Godello comes from vines over thirty years old at Valtuille de Arriba, on slate and quartz soils with traces of clay, cold-macerated and then aged around eight months on fine lees. The Ponferrada specialist Mencía & Godello pairs it with Encima Wines in the region's organic case on the strength of that farming.
Tip: Casar de Burbia also bottles a barrel-fermented Godello and the Tebaida range of old-vine Mencía, both worth tasting against the entry white.
Ponferrada
Demencia works minimal-intervention vineyards and states that its aim in the cellar is to turn must into wine naturally, without invasive technique. Production is small enough that visits run only by prior booking, two hours for EUR 18, and the vineyards it shows are at Villafranca del Bierzo, Valtuille de Abajo, Monte Cotelo and Cabarcos.
Tip: Ask to see the Monte Cotelo and Cabarcos parcels, which sit apart from the Valtuille cluster most visitors are shown.
