The Woman They Weren't Ready For, the 25 Parcels & the Palomino from Schist
A Galician who enrolled in oenology school at 16, apprenticed with Eben Sadie in South Africa and Achaval-Ferrer in Argentina, spent a decade making wine at Dominio do Bibei, and then struck out alone to farm 4.5 hectares across 25 parcels of 80–120 year-old vines — Laura Lorenzo makes raw, mineral, singular wines from the most remote corner of Ribeira Sacra, outside the DO, in a restored winery in the centre of Manzaneda.
Origin — The Girl from Allariz Who Knew at 16
Laura Lorenzo was born in Allariz, in the province of Ourense, Galicia — a town surrounded by the kind of rugged, green landscape that makes you understand why someone would want to farm it. She decided to become a winemaker at 16, enrolled in the local oenology school, and never looked back. Upon graduation she worked at Adega Cachín in Ribeiro, then travelled to South Africa to work with Eben Sadie, and to Argentina to apprentice at Achaval-Ferrer — two of the southern hemisphere's most respected natural winemakers. She returned to Galicia with a global education and a local obsession.
In 2004, Laura arrived in the Bibei valley — the steep, dizzying, remote corridor that forms the boundary between Ribeira Sacra and Valdeorras. She took over as winemaker at Dominio do Bibei, the pioneering estate that had put the Quiroga-Bibei subzone on the map, and spent ten years learning every slope, every soil, every family who still kept vines. The terruño of Manzaneda became her second language. But by 2014, she was ready to speak with her own voice.
She formed Daterra Viticultores with her partner Álvaro Domínguez — Daterra means "from the land," and the name is a tribute to the growers who entrusted her with their vineyards. "Daterra Viticultores owes its name to the many women and men who have spent the course of their lives on the Manzaneda mountainsides in the Bibei valley cultivating these vines, and who entrust Laura Lorenzo to carry on their culture." She began making wine before she had a permanent cellar, and eventually restored a tiny old winery in the centre of Manzaneda — a charming, cramped space where oak vats, barrels, and amphorae are squeezed together in confined quarters.
Alice Feiring put it bluntly: "No one has seen a woman like this in the vines of Galicia, and I'm not sure they're ready for her."
The Place — The Val do Bibei, Where the Atlantic Meets the Continent
The Quiroga-Bibei subzone is the most south-eastern and most diverse of Ribeira Sacra's five subzones — a rugged, sparse landscape of steep terraced and un-terraced vineyards overlooking the Bibei, Jares, and Navea rivers. Here the Atlantic climate intertwines with warm continental influences. At the lowest elevations, the vegetation is almost Mediterranean: olive trees, lavender, thyme. Higher up, the Atlantic asserts itself with granite, schist, and biting wind. Laura farms roughly 4.5 hectares across 25 small parcels in three parishes — San Martiño, Soutipedre, and Cesuris — plus another hectare across the river in Valdeorras.
Granite, Schist, Gneiss and Sand
The soils are a patchwork: granite is dominant, complemented by slate, clay, gneiss, and sand. In Soutipedre, the slopes are schist and slate; in San Martiño, granitic sand; in Cesuris, a mix of clay and decomposed granite. Laura maps each parcel separately and vinifies them as distinct wines — village, parish, and single-parcel.
80 to 120 Years Old
The majority of Laura's vines are 80 to 120 years old, bush-trained, many on their own rootstock. Some parcels contain varieties rarely seen in Ribeira Sacra — Mouratón, Colgadeira, Gran Negro, Merenzao — mixed randomly with Mencía, Garnacha Tintorera, and Alicante Bouschet in the old Galician tradition.
Agro-Ecology with Minimal Impact
Laura describes her farming as "agro-ecology with minimal impact" — no chemical treatments, all work manual, with some biodynamic preparations. She nurtures life in soils decimated by decades of industrial agriculture, creating a healthy ecosystem for her old bush vines. Cover crops grow wild between the rows.
Outside the DO
Daterra wines are bottled as Vino de la Tierra (VdT) — outside the Ribeira Sacra DO. The decision was not political but practical: Laura's approach to varieties, blends, and winemaking does not fit the appellation's narrow rules. The freedom allows her to work across subzones, across rivers, and across borders.
Winemaking — Low Tech, Non-Interventionist, Gravity-Fed
Laura's cellar is deliberately low-tech. She ferments with indigenous yeasts, works with little sulfur — usually only at or before bottling — moves wine by gravity whenever possible, and bottles without fining or filtration. The reds are mostly destemmed, although some whole bunch is employed in warmer years, with short macerations of around one week. The whites see skin contact — two weeks for Palomino in chestnut casks, three to four weeks for Godello in chestnut barrels.
The vessels tell the story: old French oak barrels (225L and 500L), 1,000L chestnut foudres, clay amphorae, and 4,000L foudres for the entry-level blends. Each wine is raised on its lees, with no bâtonnage, no temperature control, and no corrections. The goal is not uniformity but singularity — each parcel, each vintage, each grape speaking with its own voice.
Her overarching philosophy is agricultural: "We seek for the future through agriculture, which means years of work in the vineyard… our grapes give good information, and let us know where the wine wants to go." The cellar does not dictate; the vineyard does.
The Wines — Village, Parish, and Single Parcel
Laura organises her wines hierarchically — from regional blends to village wines to parish and single-parcel expressions. The range is vast for 4.5 hectares, spanning reds, whites, oranges, and rosés across three distinct geographical zones.
Portela do Vento Tinto
Regional red — Ribeira SacraThe entry point — Mencía and Garnacha Tintorera from south-facing parcels in Amandi and Quiroga-Bibei. Hand-harvested, mostly destemmed, wild yeast fermentation in steel vats, raised 9 months in used 500L French barrels. Around 6,000 bottles. Juicy, floral, and immediately drinkable.
Azos de Vila
Village red — ManzanedaA field blend from Manzaneda's oldest mixed plantings — Mouratón, Mencía, Garnacha Tintorera, Merenzao, Gran Negro, and others from 80–120 year-old vines on granite at 400–750m. Destemmed, wild yeast fermentation in open-top French oak, 11 months in 225L and 500L barrels. Herbal, Atlantic, and fine.
Azos do Pobo
Parish red — SoutipedreFrom the schist and slate slopes of Soutipedre — 50% Gran Negro and Garnacha Tintorera, with Mouratón, Mencía, and Merenzao. Foot-trodden, fermented in open-top 225L and 500L barrels, raised 11 months. Brooding, deeper, and more structured than Azos de Vila. A wine of mountain shadow.
Gavela da Vila
Orange wine — Palomino100% old-vine Palomino from sandy granite soils in the Val do Bibei — a grape more associated with Andalusia than Galicia. Hand-harvested, fermented in 1,000L chestnut foudre with 2 weeks of skin maceration, raised on lees for 11 months. Amber, textural, with canned peach, grapefruit, and a saline grip. Around 2,000 bottles.
Erea de Vila
White field blendThe flagship white — Godello, Doña Blanca, and Colgadeira from 80–120 year-old vines. 90% destemmed, pressed, short skin rest, then fermented in old barrels with wild yeasts. Raised 6 months in older 225L barrels. Nutty, intense, mineral, with almond, pear, and a lovely oxidative depth.
Casas de Enriba
Valdeorras red/whiteFrom Laura's own two south-facing parcels across the river in Valdeorras — young Mencía on granite with gravel, clay, gneiss, and quartz. Harvested two weeks earlier than the Bibei vines for added acidity. Partially destemmed, 4 days of maceration, raised 10 months in used 500L French oak. A bright, accessible introduction to her style.
Legacy — The Future Through Agriculture
Laura Lorenzo matters because she is building a map of the Bibei valley in liquid form — not through grand estates or inherited vineyards, but through 25 small parcels entrusted to her by families who could no longer farm them. In a region where women in the cellar are still too rare, she has become the most visible and most original voice of the Val do Bibei — and one of the most exciting in all of Galicia.
Her legacy is the proof that agro-ecology can produce wines of raw beauty. By refusing chemicals, selected yeasts, temperature control, and filtration, she has shown that the old bush vines of Manzaneda — with their random mixes of Mencía, Mouratón, Gran Negro, and Palomino — can produce wines of startling individuality. The Gavela da Vila alone — Palomino from Galician granite, macerated in chestnut — is a wine that rewrites what that grape can do.
Through her cross-border work — Ribeira Sacra, Valdeorras, and Arribes — Laura has also created a model of the modern Galician vigneronne: not bound by DO, not bound by village, but bound by the land and the people who tend it. "The relationship with the vineyard is different from that established with other crops," she says. "With the vineyard, family history is relived, and for that reason it is the last thing the farmers leave because they know that, if they do, it's over." At Daterra, it is far from over. It has only just begun.