This month, we travel to Ribeira Sacra in Galicia, the northwest corner of Spain, to sample two wondeful wines from Bodega Adega Vella.  Your allocation is for a bottle each of Adega Vella Godello and Adega Vella Mencia.

Ribeira Sacra is a barely accessible, exquisitely rural wine region in northwestern Spain's vast, mountainous Galicia (some 350 miles northwest of Madrid), is exhibiting potential more exciting than any emerging region.

The largely godello-based whites and mencía-based reds are so irresistibly delicious, enticing and often profound that Ribeira Sacra is rapidly becoming one of the most compelling wine regions on earth.

In the bargain, it may also be the most strikingly beautiful for its terraces of indigenous dry-farmed, old vines that plunge precipitously down the majestic slopes of the damned-up canyons of the Minho river, which meanders from the north and defines the western zone, and the Sil, which flows from the east and marks the southern tier.

Such radical terrain requires Ribeira Sacra growers, like their Priorat peers, to practice "heroic viticulture," dangerous and laborious vine tending on steeply inclined terraces.

Ribeira Sacra has been growing wine since the Roman occupation (and possibly longer), yet over the past five years, this former backwater has awakened from its centuries-long slumber and appears poised to make a long-term impact on the Spanish wine world. It has already become a moderating force in a national wine culture with a predilection for overblown, inky monsters. Refreshingly, Ribeira Sacra's wines display a sense of terroir that can rival the ethereal, sublime qualities of great, Atlantic-influenced red and white Burgundies and the cabernet franc-based reds of the Loire.

Adega Vella Godello This wine has an intense nose of citrus and peaches. A midweight wine, with very fresh and crisp notes, with great minerality and food friendly acidity, it's very long and tense in the mouth.

Adega Vella Bierzo.  The grape here is Mencia- a distant relative of Cabernet Franc.  The wine has been vinified in stainless steel - no oak to maks the fresh, vibrant flavors.  Dark purple color with a nose of cherries and grenadine. This full-bodied red is loaded with crisp mineral notes mingled with ripe tannins.   These are natural wines, without a lot of added sulfur.

Recipe: Caldo Gallego - 4 servings

Caldo Gallego is a hearty and delicious soup that has some form of beans, greens, and pork as the base ingredients. There isn't one main recipe, because in Galicia, it is traditionally made with vegetables that are in season, beans that are on hand, and pork that is already in the kitchen. With the recipe below, I've included typical Galician ingredients with substitutions that can be made, if necessary.

Ingredients:
1 pound white beans (soaked overnight and drained) OR (1) 16-oz can
3/4 pound Serrano ham OR prosciutto (sliced)
1 bunch greens (turnip, collard, or kale)
1 pound potatoes (russet or white)
2 onions
1/4 pound fresh bacon
6 cups pork or chicken stock OR water
Salt

Preparation:
* Peel and dice onions and potatoes.
* Shred ham into small pieces; dice bacon.
* Remove leaves of greens; discard stalks.
* Put onions, beans (not the canned kind), ham, and stock (or water) in a large pot and bring to a boil.
* Reduce to low heat and continue cooking 15-20 minutes.
* Add potatoes, greens, and bacon. If using canned beans, add them now.
* Add salt to taste.
* Let simmer for 40 minutes, or until the beans are very tender.

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