Of course, the more you hear about the story, the more the romance of this place builds. Ribeira Sacra has among the shortest entries in Jancis Robinson’s Oxford Companion to Wine – it tells us only that the area is new (founded as a DO in 1996), in the state of Galicia, and specializes in red wines. And that Galicia otherwise being the home of white wine, particularly the internationally popular Albarinho variety – this seems to be enough to put it on the radar as an up-and-comer region. Ribeira Sacra is known for terraced, difficult terrain – which precludes modern conveniences such as tractors and means that farming grapes is an expensive, manually intensive labor of (barely profitable) love. Sort of a Cote Rotie without the Syrah. D.Ventura is tiny – they farm about 3 hectares of Mencia grapes on single row trellised vineyards carved into the hillside. The winemaker is Gerardo Mendez – who is that rare Spaniard who despises new oak and even goes so far as to experiment with cherry and chestnut wood. This is a region that is boldly producing anti-blockbusters – and the D.Ventura delivers on this understated promise.

The 2007 Petalos is the entry level wine from Descendientes De J. Palacios and is The UnCorker’s vote for best wine under $20- just a touch of new oak before being put in big old tonneaux this wine is concentrated, with dark berries and accompanied by some smoky, crunchy minerality. Blackberry on the nose accompanied by smoke and flowers, fields of flowers! Violets and white flowers- a well integrated and sweet tannic bite on the back end adds complexity and a tautness that surprised us- really, the pleasure this wine provides is immense- the kind of wine that makes us UnCorkers gush.