Founded in 1904, Palacio de Fefiñanes is housed inside a spectacular baronial palace - the 17th century Plaza de Fefiñanes - which sits on the lovely main square of coastal Cambados. The facility was built in 1647 by viscount of Fefiñanes Gonzalo Sarmiento Valladares (1583-1659). They were the first producer to bottle wine under the D.O. Rías Baixas denomination, and the label design, which shows an engraving of the Fefiñanes Palace, dates back to 1928.
Palacio de Fefiñanes is currently owned by Juan Gil Careaga. Juan Gil is a respected winemaker, but he entrusts winemaking to the talented Cristina Mantilla, who also consults at several other prestigious estates in Galicia.
In the Rias Baixas region, where the vineyards are quite windy due to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean, the wine gains a certain acidity and freshness. The winery has only a token acreage (.5 hectares) and buys its Albariño grapes from producers under long-term contract and with technical assistance from the winery's enologist. Vines are over 40 years old on average – some over 100 years old – and are all trained on trellises and planted on sandy soils, with some limestone and clay. The vineyards are grown at heights not much above sea level, enjoying the warm, damp Atlantic climate.
Year after year, local critics rate Albariño de Fefiñanes as one of the best. Palacio de Fefinanes produces 11,000 cases annually.
"The Palacio de Fefinanes is an ornate, two-story structure, its walls and turrets built of granite blocks, defining one side of the central square in Cambados, a town in Salnes, Rias Baixas. The Viscount of Fefinanes, Gonzalo Sarmiento Valladares, completed his family's home in 1647 and records trace winemaking at the palace to the 17th century; it turned into a business venture at the beginning of the 20th, with the first bottles released in 1928. Today, there are two small parcels of vines on pergolas within the estate walls; most of the grapes come to the palace winery from growers with small plots in Cambados. Cristina Mantilla, who has made the wines since 1995, has added to the original, singular albarino with vineyard and cellar selections that take the grape from fresh coastal classics to long-lived whites."
TOP 100 WINERIES of the Year 2018
- Wine & Spirits Magazine (September 2018)
