100% Albariño

Food pairings: Appetizers, seafood and fish, salads, fish rice dishes, poultry and fresh cheeses; also sushi, sashimi and other Asian dishes.

Winemaking: 2025 was one of the earliest harvests the winery can remember. Picking began on August 22 at the Silvosa estate in O Rosal, continued a few days later in the Salnés Valley and ended on September 15 at the Viñadeiro vineyard. The grapes were picked by hand into small refrigerated boxes, and every berry was checked by optical sorting at the winery. After pre-cooling, the grapes were gently pressed under reductive conditions and fermented at controlled temperatures. Malolactic fermentation was avoided to keep the wine fresh, and it rested on its fine lees with periodic bâtonnage.

Vineyards and terroir: The grapes come from the winery's own vineyards in O Rosal and in the Salnés Valley (Cambados), on loamy-sandy soils with a high schist content in O Rosal and decomposed granite in Salnés. The 2025 season began with a drier-than-usual winter and a rainy, mild spring. Dry weather at flowering gave an excellent, even fruit set, and a moderate summer allowed slow ripening that kept the grapes' natural acidity.

Family and history: Looking for a great white-wine terroir, La Rioja Alta, S.A. came to O Rosal in 1988 and bought the small family winery Fernández Cervera Hermanos, which became Lagar de Fornelos. The Lagar de Cervera name honors the founding family and the century-old wine press (lagar) in the house, now the winery's private dining room. New facilities opened in 2013, with a forest scene printed on the fermentation tanks, and since 2021 Lagar de Fornelos has been the first winery in Galicia to sort its grapes optically. Olga Verde is the winemaker.

In the pictures: The Lagar de Fornelos winery in O Rosal; the fermentation hall with its forest-printed tanks; and visitors looking out over the vineyards at Lagar de Fornelos. Photographs courtesy of La Rioja Alta, S.A.