Carballal, a 15 ha estate in Rias Baixas, has been quietly very far ahead of the curve for almost forty years now. Founded by Benito Vasquez in the town of Salnes, it’s now helmed by his son Juan Carlos, who is joined by his six (!) brothers. The estate was instrumental in pushing for the Rias Baixas DO in the 1980s. In addition, they were one of the first in the region to implement crop covers, one of the first to grow organically, the first to use steel barrels and they were one of the first wines in the Coeur portfolio, over 10 years ago. Today, the estate continues to be leading the pack, pushing the boundaries of natural winemaking in the region and reaching new heights of quality.

Juan Carlos, trained as an Agricultural Engineer, is understandably fanatical about Carballal’s terroir and babying his sublime old vine and high trellised Albarino. He’s a big advocate about soil health and leaving the microbes undisturbed, so he avoids plowing, trusting covercrops to aerate and break up the soil. Life in the vineyards is of utmost importance – there’s a lot of re-wilding going on surrounding the vineyards and processes to encourage life. Notably, Juan Carlos encourages herbal growth, out of the mindset that the finished wines will express the complexities and flavors. To keep the vineyards alive, they strenuously avoid the use of systemics or petroleum products. The vines are instead fertilized by spent pomace, and should intervention be necessary, Juan Carlos steps in using natural treatments, like powdered mussel shells or local seaweed to restore the balance.


In the cellar, Juan continues to push the boundaries – all his wines are spontaneously fermented following a brief (for most) skin maceration. The wines are fermented without SO2, allowing for malolactic and more complexity, with elevage entirely in steel to preserve freshness and the delicate aromas of the vineyard. For the classic albarino, Cete Sepas, 40ppm SO2 is added at bottling. This, while far below the allowances for organic viticulture (150ppm!), still felt too easy for Juan Carlos, who has a pretty big experimental streak. The culmination of this is Laranxa, from the dialect word for orange, a fully skin fermented and entirely 0/0 albarino from pure granitic soils that, obviously, won’t be getting DO status anytime soon, but that absolutely captured our hearts.

To say we’re proud of Carballal is an understatement – they’ve been a flagpole wine in our portfolio for longer than most of us have been here and they’ve consistently dialed in their quality while also making room for experimentation. It feels like we’re barely scratching the surface of what Juan Carlos and his six brothers can do, and we can’t wait to show you more stuff from the most progressive estate in Rias Baixas.