Dominio do Bibei Lalume Ribeiro Blanco 2022

The white 2022 Lalume, one wine from Ribeiro, is harmonious, clean and expressive, with notes of pollen, yellow flowers and herbs. It has a round and soft palate that reflect a warm and dry year and comes through as more Mediterranean. It finishes dry, with tasty flavors. It was produced with a blend of Treixadura with 8% Albariño, 4% Godello and the remaining 2% Caíño Blanco, Loureira and Torrontés. 

Dominio do Bibei is the domaine of reference in the lesser-known Quiroga-Bibei subzone of Galicia’s Ribeira Sacra. Proprietor Javier Domínguez and team are sparing no pains in making their best wines ever from back-breakingly beautiful terraced vineyards at up to 500-600 meters above sea level. Plantings are mostly to Mencía but other indigenous varieties like Mouratón and Brancellao are cultivated assiduously, vinified separately, and prized for their character in blends. The whites, produced from the higest plots, are also revelatory.

The winery is one of silence, beauty, and a distinct lack of technology– this is a gentle transformation from grapes to wine, entirely by gravity in descending levels of neutral wooden vessels.