The Bodegas
Nora winery is owned by two men: Javier Alen, the well-respected Galician
producer of Viña Mein, and Victor Rodriguez, the former director of
Vino y Gastronomia, a respected Spanish wine and food magazine.
The winery is located about 12 miles from the historic village of
Tui (“Tuy” in Castilian). This village marks the borders of the sub
regions O Rosal and Condado de Tea and it is the site of one of the
oldest Jewish settlements in Spain.
The goal
of the winery is to show the Albariño grape at its most expressive.
Although Albariño is an Atlantic varietal, it loves the sun. The grape
only reaches its full potential when it is harvested fully ripe. This
is achieved by careful vineyard and vine management, leaf control,
and very detailed selection of grapes. Timing the harvest is always
a gamble; delay advances the goal of maturity but it invites the threat
posed by the inevitable autumn rains.
The grapes
for this wine come from 48 acres of 18-year-old vineyards which yield
2.5-2.9 t/acre, and which surround the winery in the town of As Neves,
in the sub region of Condado Del Tea on the banks of the Miño River.
The area is surrounded by pine and eucalyptus forests. (It is actually
possible to see Portugal from the vineyards.) The location is particularly
suitable because it receives plenty of sun and the warm Gulf Stream
moderates both the coolness of the latitude and the early morning
fog from the Miño River.
New Zealander
and enologist Alistair Gardner creates Nora using stainless-steel
to ferment 90% of the juice before sur lie aging in tanks while 10%
is fermented on large format French Allier oak barrels.
Production:
5,000 cases for the U.S.
