Interview/ raúl pérez/ Enologist. La Voz de Galicia
Already other regions want Galician grape varieties
Raúl Pérez is the prestigious enologist that became well-known due to his work in El Bierzo. At present he has projects on the go in many regions of Spain and even in South Africa and he has great hopes for the wines of Galicia and in particular those of the Ribeira Sacra.
Are you looking for regions that are able to surprise you?
It is very important to work with indigenous varieties of vine. The Foráneas varieties have great potential, but there are a lot of cabernets and they are very good. To have seven or eight native grape varieties well acclimatised to the land at your disposal as you have in Galicia is a luxury.
Is it only the MencÃa variety?
MencÃa is very good, but there are other varieties that can enrich it, such as Caiño, Loureira, Araúxa, Zamarrica. However, the surprise here is the Merenzao, that I see as having enormous potential. It is the same variety as the French Trousseau, with which they make very original wines in the region of Jura.
How do you see the future of the Ribeira Sacra?
If I could invest money here, I have a very clear idea of what I would do. The problem is the grapes, rather that there aren´t enough. If somebody offered me eight hectares of vineyards, the following day I would take it to an investor. Today you have 50,000 bottles of Ribeira Sacra wine and you sell them abroad because the exporters of the USA and Japan are interested in this region. However, because of the cooperatives what you aren´t able to do is make 3 Euro bottles of wine.
Will there be new projects of yours in the Ribeira Sacra?
I would love to do other things here. This year it wasn´t possible because of the limited grape harvest, but I hope to have the opportunity at the next harvest. There are other people from the world of wine who are very interested in this region, but they have to find the type of grape they are looking for. Usually radical transformations are bad for everything, from education to cooking, and therefore, I imagine you need to be patient.