ORIGINS

Like many good things, almost by chance and due to a host of circumstances that have been happening over the previous 6 years and that in August 2013 resulted in the creation of Bodegas y Viñedos Garay, and in 2014 the appearance of the first vintage of the winery.
The first thing was the purchase of a vineyard located on the «Camino de Hinojos» of just over 5,000 square meters and with some 1,500 vines, but not just any vines, but more than half a century old and the queen variety of Condado of Huelva, the Zalema.
From there, we take care of our vineyard and like any other farmer we take our grapes to some of the existing wineries in La Palma del Condado. But we saw that all the effort, affection, dedication and money that we used to obtain the best fruit was never compensated.
We started in 2009 to squeeze, press and ferment our grapes in very small quantities, «for home», then it was «for home and family», the following year it was already «for home, family and friends» and that’s when things ended in what we are today.

THE VINEYARD

About 45,000 m2 of the oldest vineyards in the County with an average production of 1.5 kg per vine.
The wine is made on the vine, hence the importance of having an old vineyard, of taking care of it as our grandparents did, of being ecological, using organic fertilizers, plant cover on the ground that preserves humidity and erosion, of not use herbicides or systemic treatments.
Ours has been the first CAAE-certified organic zalema vineyard.

SOIL – TERROIR – VINES – GRAPES

We have a loamy, clayey soil of medium fertility, at 150 meters of altitude, located in the highest area of the transverse fold of Huelva that separates the low and coastal area from the beginning of the Sierra; ideal for growing vines.
The location of the vineyard has traditionally been one of the areas with the best reputation for Palmerine vines and where this crop has always been cultivated.
The work is done by hand, there is nothing mechanized since the density of plants does not allow it: pruning, harvesting of shoots, thinning of vegetation, castra and harvesting are done by hand.
The vines were planted in the first half of the 20th century, over 60 years old, in vase formation. The variety, the Zalema, the Queen of the County of Huelva, the native variety par excellence and the one that, knowing how to take care of it, will give us the best of itself, with its own personality, authentic, without imitations, its own «terroir».
It is the grape best adapted to our land, to long and hot summers, with an average annual rainfall of 700 mm and an average temperature between 16º and 18º.

THE WINERY

Our winery is located on Avenida de Sevilla, the main axis of the town that crosses it from east to west. The winery is small, atypical, not at all traditional in terms of construction, but it has everything we could need: reception, winery, laboratory, aging area, bottling area and warehouse; In addition, even though it is small, it is one of the few where grapes enter and bottles of wine come out, which is a source of pride for us.
It has a north-south orientation, which favors the natural ventilation of the entire enclosure, which is very important to maintain the most stable temperature possible, which is helped by its complete isolation from the outside.

THE VINTAGE

Once the optimum moment of maturation has been determined and, above all, the natural sugar-acidity balance of our grapes, they arrive at the winery in 20-kilo boxes. We do not want the raw material, the basis of our product, to arrive crushed, broken, dirty; we want it as presentable as we would see it in any store and even so, the first step is to make a manual selection, to separate any grain in poor condition

DESTEMMED – CRUSHED – PRESSED

Once the best bunches have been selected, and despite being white wine, we de-stem them to separate the stems from the grains, which will go through a gentle crushing where they will reach the press.
The pressing is done with a small manual vertical press with an oak wood cage, with a capacity of around 500 kg of grapes, from which, once the yolk must or flower must has been extracted, it passes to the stainless steel tanks for decanting and fermentation.

FERMENTATION

The fermentation is done with its own yeasts, the native ones, which will make a difference in the organoleptic qualities of the wine and its own identity, that is if it is «terroir»; He will make it between 14º and 18º maximum so that it extracts its best aromas and flavors.

AGING

Once the fermentation is finished, the wine will go through an oxidative aging, in French and American oak Bordeaux barrels, for a subsequent separate coupage before reaching the bottle, where the wine will rest before going to market.