Alberto Nanclares and Silvia Prieto make transparent, Atlantic-influenced wines, mainly with Albariño from old vines around the village of Cambados.
Alberto founded the bodega over 20 years ago when they moved to Galicia from Madrid to be closer to the ocean. The property came with a small vineyard behind the old farmhouse – a plot that now provides grapes for the ‘Nanclares’ wines. Out of curiosity, Alberto began to look after the vineyard, initially with the help of a local consultant.
Bit by bit Alberto took on other plots around his village, then further into the mainland near Meano, and then finally he purchased a series of plots along the outcrop of land that shoots into the sea at the bottom of the valley of Salnes, around the town of Sanxenxo.
Alberto has been farming organically since the late 1990’s, which is a task that many believed to be impossible in the wet conditions of Salnes where growth is vigorous and disease pressure is high. He treats the soil with a combination of algae from the local Rias and decomposed grape must from previous vintages, the focus here is on viticulture as a means of avoiding additives in the winery. It’s a philosophy that has earned him a serious following in the natural wine world although this sort of attention was never something he’d sought.
In 2016 Alberto took on a young winemaker named Silvia Prieto, true to the humble and generous nature of Alberto her name was immediately added to the labels – Bodegas Nanclares became Nanclares y Prieto and the capacity to produce even more fine boned and expressive Albarino increased.