Forjas del Salnes - Goliardo Tinto 2020

The Goliardo range from Forjas del Salnes is an attempt to preserve the rare red grapes of Galicia. In a region that is overwhelmingly planted with Albarino, many of theses varieties are increasingly rare. These elegant and Pinot like grapes have been steadily lost to the fashion of big red Tempranillo.

Pale coloured, elegant and sophisticated light red framed by sweet red cherry fruit slung along a long and pure acid line. There's more here too that speak of Rias Baixas and it's coastal position - a briny herbal undertone, like wakame sitting underneath the pure red fruit.

ABOUT FORJAS DEL SALNES

Over the last decade, Forjas del Salnés has firmly established itself as a cult producer in Rías Baixas, producing terroir driven, naturally made wines that speak so clearly of the land on which they’re grown. Rodrigo Mendez, grandson of the project’s founder and local vinous legend Francisco Mendez Laredo, grows a selection of indigenous red varietals rarely seen in Rías Baixas: Caíño, Loureiro Tinto, Espadeiro, alongside the more ubiquitous Albariño. The red varieties now form a collection of wines known as ‘Goliardo’ - a local Galician term for a drunk philosopher…

At the heart of the project is the two hectare estate of Madame Lola, where pre-phylloxera Caíño and Albariño vines are planted on granitic sand around an old cellar. When Rodrigo began work here, he found a cellar with estate-made Albariño from the 1960s and 1970s, produced simply, with indigenous yeasts, old oak barrels for fermentation and ageing. These rare old bottles showed tremendous complexity and longevity. These bottlings, along with the simple manner of production at Madame Lola’s estate, have continued to inform the project as Rodrigo seeks complex, age-worthy expressions of the local terroir whose savoury nature provides stark contrast to the mainstream Rías Baixas producers.

Including Madame Lola’s estate, Forjas del Salnés now farms 12.5 acres of vines, spread across the Salnés valley. They search for sites with slight elevation, fast draining, sandy soils, and granitic bedrock to help counteract the high rainfall typical of Rías Baixas. Rodrigo farms organically, one of the few to do so in a region with high disease pressure, and typically yields are between a third and a half of the 12,000kg per hectare regional average.

THE NAME GOILARDO

"The word 'Goliardo' adorns all of Forjas del Salnes' red range - it's possibly the greatest name for a bracket of wines we've come across. It comes from the Gallego dialect, the language of the Galician Autonomous Commnuity that lives in the North-West of Spain, in the isolated corner above Portugal. It's a trope, a word that describes a recurring image in Galician society; a slightly drunk, young philosopher so enamoured with his own knowledge that he can't help but lecture everyone within hearing distance whether they like it or not. Think first year philosophy majors at the University pub by 9pm on a Friday. It's a good natured jibe rather than a full throated insult"

Goliardo Tinto is predominantly Caino from vineyards right next to the ocean with smaller volumes of Louriero, Espadiero and Souson.