Galicia, Spain
Acios de Xesteiriña
Acios de Xexsteiriña is a tiny boutique winery in Val do Salnés, Galicia, in the northwest corner of Spain. Forty years ago, José Manuel Dominguez, the present owner and winemaker, and his father developed a small vineyard, which today makes up only 1.2 ha. This vineyard is planted mostly with Albariño, the signature variety in Galicia, which produces a gastronomic wine with incredible texture and minerality. José Manuel is an agricultural engineer by training but today focuses his energies on this highly regarded winery, assisted by Adrian Guerra.
The vineyard is about 2 km from the Atlantic Ocean on an igneous rocky subsoil called Grandiorite. The vines are trained high using the pergola system to promote air circulation to combat fungal disease, which is common in this wet climate. Treatments in the vineyard are organic, carefully considered, and minimized to respect biodiversity.
Xesteiriña
The Albariño grapes are hand-harvested, and the whole grape clusters are pressed in traditional plate presses. Fermentation occurs in used oak vessels of various sizes with ambient yeast at low temperatures. The wine is then aged in neutral oak barrels for around 10 months on lees, but with no battonage (stirring of the lees to give additional texture).
The wine is then transferred to stainless steel tanks for blending and settling. It is bottled without fining or filtering, with the addition of a small amount of sulphite as a protective agent. For the 2024 vintage, around 2,500 bottles of Xesteirña were produced
