Santiago Ruiz | Rias Baixas

The Ruiz family has been making wines in Galicia since the 1860s. Ángel Ruiz, Santiago’s grandfather, was one of the first people to bottle wines in the region. Santiago then picked up the baton and continued the pioneering spirit of his grandfather by installing the first ever stainless-steel tanks in Rías Baixas. He was also a key figure in the establishment of the Rías Baixas DO in the 1980s. Though Santiago only fully dedicated himself to wine after he retired from a career in naval insurance, such was his contribution to the development of modern winemaking in the region that a street in San Miguel de Tabagón bears his name. The new winery, built in 2007, is fully equipped with state-of-the art winemaking technology and head winemaker Luisa Freire, an expert in aromatic varieties, makes clean and expressive white wines that reflect the unique sense of place of O Rosal.

O Rosal is the most southerly of the five Rías Baixas sub-zones, situated on the north bank of the river Miño, which marks the border with Portugal. O Rosal enjoys more sunlight hours and lower rainfall than other sub-zones and the vineyards here benefit from both cooling Atlantic breezes and the moderating influence and increased airflow from the river. Soils in O Rosal are predominantly sandy over a granite bedrock, this translates into wines with an aromatic richness combined with a characteristic wet-stone minerality. Loureiro, a variety prized for its aromatic flavour profile, performs particularly well here and wines labelled ‘O Rosal’ must include this grape in the blend, something that distinguishes them from the majority of Rías Baixas wines which are 100% Albariño. The Santiago Ruiz vineyards cover 38 hectares on south-facing slopes on the banks of the Miño. All the vineyards are sustainably farmed and harvesting is carried out by hand.

SANTIAGO RUIZ