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Buy Wine from Viña Somoza Bodegas y Viñedos
Viña Somoza does not respond to formulas or fashions. Its origin is not linked to great family feats or centuries-old stories, but to the intimate discovery of a territory: Valdeorras, that Galician strip east of Ourense where granite and slate dispute the roots of the vine, and where the altitude marks the rhythm of the vine. What began as a small winery with its own grapes has become, in barely two decades, one of the most respected and discreet names in the new Galician wine scene. But it is not noise that Viña Somoza seeks, but precision.
Technique, sensitivity and listening - The philosophy of Javier García Alonso
The philosophy is simple in its approach and extremely complex in its execution: respect the vineyard, understand each plot, and vinify without make-up. Under the oenological direction of Javier García Alonso, ex 4 Monos, trained in Madrid but deeply rooted in the Atlantic landscape, Viña Somoza has managed to combine the best of two worlds: the humility of local peasant knowledge and the surgical eye of the contemporary oenologist. The result is not designed wines, but translated wines. Each vintage is a new attempt to understand what the soil, the altitude and the vine mean.
Fragmented vineyards, extreme soils and a mineral identity
Valdeorras itself is not an easy territory. Between 300 and 700 metres above sea level, the Godello and Mencía vines face strong thermal contrasts, uneven rainfall and soils that change every hundred metres. In the area where Viña Somoza works, especially around A Rúa and Larouco, the hillsides combine old Roman terraces with scattered vineyards, often in micro-plot format, often with old vines in goblet vines that barely reach half a kilo per plant. The soil is mainly granitic, with the presence of slate and ferruginous clay in some lower areas. This mineral and austere geology, which in other areas would be an obstacle, becomes a competitive advantage here.
A winery that interprets, not intervenes
The work in the winery is deliberately minimalist: spontaneous fermentations, little or no destemming in the reds, ageing in foudres, used barrels or concrete tanks, and a measured, almost symbolic, use of SO₂. The result is wines that do not seek to please at first sip, but to settle in. One does not drink a Viña Somoza wine to find stereotypical fruit or an international profile. What there is is tension, structure, a sustaining acidity and a bitter, saline, almost vegetal background, reminiscent of the origin.
Tight whites, precise reds - A range that evolves
One of the house's most revealing wines is Neno, a Godello from high-altitude vineyards, aged partly in neutral wood, partly in steel. Far from being an easy white, Neno shows the most vertical profile of Godello: dry white fruit, citrus peel, wilted flower, and that raw almond background that only appears in wines that have known how to oxidise just enough.
Viña Somoza has managed, discreetly and firmly, to place itself among the most admired producers in Galicia. As 2 Ladeiras or Ededia are testimony to the expressive potential of the Godello when cultivated with respect and vinified with sensitivity. Whites that combine Atlantic freshness, silky texture and a minerality that speaks of the subsoil where they were born. In addition to these, there are increasingly surprising reds, such as Via XVIII or Taté, where varieties such as Mencía or Brancellao display all their personality in pure, direct and elegant versions.
Renouncing to reveal - The ethics of a wine with place
What makes Viña Somoza special is not a marketing discourse or a constructed image. It is the fact that they do not seek to be singular: they are. From pruning to bottling, every decision is a renunciation. They renounce volume, easy applause, unnecessary intervention. What is gained in exchange is something rare: wines with character, with place and with time. They do not want to represent Valdeorras as a whole, but their own plots, and in this gesture of microcosm they achieve something greater: a contemporary portrait of Galician wine made from authenticity and not from nostalgia.
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Buy Wine from Viña Somoza Bodegas y Viñedos
Viña Somoza does not respond to formulas or fashions. Its origin is not linked to great family feats or centuries-old stories, but to the intimate discovery of a territory: Valdeorras, that Galician strip east of Ourense where granite and slate dispute the roots of the vine, and where the altitude marks the rhythm of the vine. What began as a small winery with its own grapes has become, in barely two decades, one of the most respected and discreet names in the new Galician wine scene. But it is not noise that Viña Somoza seeks, but precision.
Technique, sensitivity and listening - The philosophy of Javier García Alonso
The philosophy is simple in its approach and extremely complex in its execution: respect the vineyard, understand each plot, and vinify without make-up. Under the oenological direction of Javier García Alonso, ex 4 Monos, trained in Madrid but deeply rooted in the Atlantic landscape, Viña Somoza has managed to combine the best of two worlds: the humility of local peasant knowledge and the surgical eye of the contemporary oenologist. The result is not designed wines, but translated wines. Each vintage is a new attempt to understand what the soil, the altitude and the vine mean.
Fragmented vineyards, extreme soils and a mineral identity
Valdeorras itself is not an easy territory. Between 300 and 700 metres above sea level, the Godello and Mencía vines face strong thermal contrasts, uneven rainfall and soils that change every hundred metres. In the area where Viña Somoza works, especially around A Rúa and Larouco, the hillsides combine old Roman terraces with scattered vineyards, often in micro-plot format, often with old vines in goblet vines that barely reach half a kilo per plant. The soil is mainly granitic, with the presence of slate and ferruginous clay in some lower areas. This mineral and austere geology, which in other areas would be an obstacle, becomes a competitive advantage here.
A winery that interprets, not intervenes
The work in the winery is deliberately minimalist: spontaneous fermentations, little or no destemming in the reds, ageing in foudres, used barrels or concrete tanks, and a measured, almost symbolic, use of SO₂. The result is wines that do not seek to please at first sip, but to settle in. One does not drink a Viña Somoza wine to find stereotypical fruit or an international profile. What there is is tension, structure, a sustaining acidity and a bitter, saline, almost vegetal background, reminiscent of the origin.
Tight whites, precise reds - A range that evolves
One of the house's most revealing wines is Neno, a Godello from high-altitude vineyards, aged partly in neutral wood, partly in steel. Far from being an easy white, Neno shows the most vertical profile of Godello: dry white fruit, citrus peel, wilted flower, and that raw almond background that only appears in wines that have known how to oxidise just enough.
Viña Somoza has managed, discreetly and firmly, to place itself among the most admired producers in Galicia. As 2 Ladeiras or Ededia are testimony to the expressive potential of the Godello when cultivated with respect and vinified with sensitivity. Whites that combine Atlantic freshness, silky texture and a minerality that speaks of the subsoil where they were born. In addition to these, there are increasingly surprising reds, such as Via XVIII or Taté, where varieties such as Mencía or Brancellao display all their personality in pure, direct and elegant versions.
Renouncing to reveal - The ethics of a wine with place
What makes Viña Somoza special is not a marketing discourse or a constructed image. It is the fact that they do not seek to be singular: they are. From pruning to bottling, every decision is a renunciation. They renounce volume, easy applause, unnecessary intervention. What is gained in exchange is something rare: wines with character, with place and with time. They do not want to represent Valdeorras as a whole, but their own plots, and in this gesture of microcosm they achieve something greater: a contemporary portrait of Galician wine made from authenticity and not from nostalgia.