Lagar de Pintos is a family estate currently run by its 4th generation winemaker Marta Castro-Pintos. The family home and winery are in a traditional Galician pazo in the Val do Salnés town of Ribadumia. The estate was originally a farmstead for raising sheep and cows, and in the 1950s the family planted grapevines. Marta’s father, Pepe Pintos, modernized the estate in the 1980s during the local revival of the Albariño grape variety. In the 2000s, Marta converted all the vineyards to organic farming, and has been a pioneer on this front in Rías Baixas ever since.

Lagar de Pintos is a small but mighty estate, and its 5.5 hectares of vines are contained entirely within one small area in the Val do Salnés zone of Rías Baixas. The median age of the Albariño vines at Lagar de Pintos is 35 years old. The naturally sandy, granite soils here offer excellent drainage and natural resistance to pests like phylloxera. Because the vineyards are surrounded by water, they require trellising high above the ground to avoid mildew caused by the damp climate.

Each of the seven plots is vinified separately. The grapes are gently whole bunch pressed and fermented using indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks and old oak barrels called foudres, enhancing the wine’s texture and aromatic complexity. The wine is then aged on the lees for 8 months in stainless steel tanks and used foudres with weekly batonnage. The finished wines from the different parcels are blended before bottling.