Spain · Rías Baixas

Compañía de Vinos Telmo Rodríguez

Telmo Rodríguez and Pablo Eguzkiza began with old Garnacha in Navarra and built a Spanish portfolio around small parcels, native grapes, local growers and recovered vineyards such as A Falcoeira in Ourense.

The producer

Compañía de Vinos Telmo Rodríguez began in 1994, when Telmo Rodríguez and Pablo Eguzkiza made Alma from old Garnacha vines in Sada, Navarra. The project now links places with different wine histories: steep terraced vineyards and traditional field blends in Valdeorras, bush vines in the Lanciego area of Rioja, and named sites around Santa Cruz in Ourense beside the Sil River. A bottle may be a regional wine, a mixed old-vine wine, or a vineyard-designated white, with grape and label role changing with the place.

Across approximately 80 hectares and 355 small parcels, the company works with 43 native grape varieties and local growers, using inherited vineyard practices as a guide. Different fermentation and ageing vessels limit a single cellar imprint across the range. Gaba do Xil Mencía brings red fruit, granite, herbs, flowers, smoke, meat and gentle fruit tannin from Valdeorras. For a first bottle, Gaba do Xil O Barreiro offers Godello and other local varieties from one named vineyard, fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured for several months on lees. The 2024 wine spent four months on lees in stainless steel without malolactic fermentation, leaving breadth with a direct finish.

Known for

Landscape-led Spanish wines from old vineyards, bush vines, native grapes and traditional field blends.

Notable facts

The story

Ten years to A Falcoeira

In 2002, Telmo Rodríguez and Pablo Eguzkiza returned to Santa Cruz in Ourense after an earlier attempt to work there had failed. They bought the historic A Falcoeira vineyard, which had been abandoned for many years, and replanted it using the old method. The decision was difficult to explain locally, and nobody understood why they were putting work into a forgotten site. The partners continued with the replanting through the long wait. Ten years later, the first A Falcoeira A Capilla wine was bottled.

From the atlas

Compañía de Vinos Telmo Rodríguez

At A Glance

Telmo Rodríguez and Pablo Eguzkiza began their Spanish wine project in 1994 with Alma, made from old Garnacha vineyards in Sada, Navarra. The company now works across places including Lanciego in Rioja and Santa Cruz in Ourense, with approximately 80 hectares divided among 355 small parcels and 43 native grape varieties. Its bottles move between regional wines, old vineyards, field blends and named sites, so place and grape change from label to label.

The Producer

Compañía de Vinos Telmo Rodríguez is co-owned by winemaker friends Telmo Rodríguez and Pablo Eguzkiza. Their partnership grew from a first old-vine Garnacha wine into a network of local growers, historic vineyards and regional projects. Working with growers in each area lets them learn local traditions and preserve wines that belong to the place where the grapes grow.

The cellar follows the same direction. Soil and landscape come before a fixed house style, while different fermentation and ageing vessels soften the winemakers’ imprint. The choice keeps the bottle connected to its vineyard source, whether the wine comes from a steep Valdeorras terrace, an old mixed vineyard in Ourense or bush vines in Rioja.

Place

The company’s headquarters are in Lanciego, Álava, where its Rioja grapes come from the Lanciego area except Las Beatas. Its Galician work centres on Santa Cruz in Ourense, beside the Sil River. Rodríguez describes the landscape through contrasts: northern exposures can feel almost Scottish, while southern slopes recall the dry conditions of Teruel. Those changes in exposure and elevation alter ripeness, acidity and the balance between red, white and mixed-variety wines.

Valdeorras adds steep terraces and traditional field blends to the range. The vineyard work follows the land’s existing shape, so a Valdeorras bottle carries a different combination of grape material, altitude and texture from a Garnacha wine in Navarra or a named white vineyard in Ourense.

Soil And Site

No single soil type is supplied for the whole company, but the physical pattern is clear. The vineyards include steep terraces, mountain slopes, varied orientations, different elevations and old parcels divided into small pieces. Rodríguez describes the vines as unirrigated, untrellised bush vines. That training keeps the plants close to older vineyard practice and limits the range to fruit shaped by rainfall, exposure and the natural capacity of each parcel.

As Caborcas brings these contrasts together in one old vineyard, with different varieties, vine ages, elevations and orientations. Its mixed planting gives the wine a site reading built from several parts of the same hillside instead of a single-variety profile.

Story

In 1994, Alma gave the partnership its first shape: old Garnacha from Sada in Navarra, made as a wine of a particular village and vineyard tradition. The project then widened through local growers and regional work, while the founders kept returning to native grapes, old vines and inherited farming practices. Each new area added a different label language and a different set of cellar decisions.

The Galician chapter began in 2002 at Santa Cruz in Ourense. Over time, the company moved from broad regional wines toward bottles that name individual vineyards, including As Caborcas and Gaba do Xil O Barreiro. O Barreiro became a vineyard-designated white in 2021, made entirely from estate-grown fruit selected from that vineyard. A regional project could therefore become a bottle tied to one named plot, one grape blend and one specific method of farming.

Vineyards And Cellar

The portfolio’s approximately 80 hectares are spread across 355 small parcels and include 43 native grape varieties. Local growers provide knowledge of each area and its traditional wines, while bush-vine farming keeps the vineyards unirrigated and free from trellising. In Valdeorras, steep terraces preserve traditional field blends, allowing several local varieties to arrive together in the same regional wine.

The cellar uses more than one kind of fermentation and ageing vessel, so the material of the container does not impose one flavour across every bottle. Gaba do Xil O Barreiro uses Godello and other local varieties, indigenous yeasts and several months on its lees. For the 2024 vintage, the wine spent four months on lees in stainless steel and did not undergo malolactic fermentation, combining lees texture with a direct stainless-steel profile.

Wines

Alma is the beginning of the range: old Garnacha from Sada in Navarra, a village-based red that records where the partnership started. Gaba do Xil Mencía comes from Valdeorras and connects a red grape with steep terraced vineyards and preserved field blends. The 2020 wine carries red fruit, granite, herbs, floral fragrance, smoke and meat, with gentle fruit tannin through the finish.

As Caborcas is a wine from an old, mixed vineyard, where varieties, vine ages, elevations and orientations share one site. A Falcoeira A Capilla comes from the historic vineyard replanted at Santa Cruz and occupies a different range position, as a named vineyard wine recovered through long-term work. Gaba do Xil O Barreiro is the white counterpart, a vineyard-designated wine from estate-grown O Barreiro fruit, made with Godello and other local varieties, indigenous yeasts and lees maturation.

In The Glass

The Mencía sequence begins with red fruit and floral fragrance, then moves toward herbs, granite, smoke and meat as the wine opens. On the palate, fruit tannin remains gentle, so the wine carries savoury and mineral notes without a hard finish. The steep Valdeorras terraces and traditional field blend give the red more than a simple varietal profile.

O Barreiro moves differently. Godello and local varieties bring a white wine with freshness, while indigenous fermentation and several months on lees build a broader mid-palate. In the 2024 version, stainless-steel ageing and the absence of malolactic fermentation leave the finish direct, with lees texture carried by acidity instead of oak flavour. Across the range, the glass follows the vineyard and cellar choices written on each label.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Gaba do Xil O Barreiro. Since 2021, it has been made entirely from estate-grown fruit selected from the named O Barreiro vineyard, using Godello and other local varieties, indigenous yeasts and several months on its lees. The 2024 vintage adds four months in stainless steel without malolactic fermentation. In the glass, lees maturation supplies breadth, while the stainless-steel élevage and acidity keep the finish clear and direct. One bottle brings together named place, local grapes, native fermentation and the company’s preference for letting vineyard character lead the cellar work.

Anecdote

In 2002, Telmo Rodríguez and Pablo Eguzkiza returned to Santa Cruz in Ourense after an earlier attempt had failed. They bought the historic A Falcoeira vineyard, which had been abandoned for many years, and replanted it using the old method. People in the area did not understand the choice at the time, but the partners continued with the work. The vineyard needed ten years before its first A Falcoeira A Capilla wine was bottled.

Final Word

The project began with old Garnacha in Navarra and grew through small parcels, native varieties, local growers and recovered vineyards. Its bottles keep those places visible: mixed old vines in As Caborcas, terraces and field blends in Valdeorras, and the named O Barreiro vineyard in a Godello-led white.

Sources

Open Compañía de Vinos Telmo Rodríguez in the interactive map →