This time last year I was visiting Navarra, St Martin de Unx in fact, on what I now know was my last trip abroad for quite some time. 

Whilst Aseginolaza y Leunda (for it was them I was visiting) are one of the newest and most exciting finds from Spain for us, it made me reflect on the many times I have felt the same way about discovering new growers from my explorations deep into the peninsulas wine regions, from the first tentative steps we made 11 years ago and shipping unheard of (then, anyway) names from Riberia Sacra and Rias Baixas, a strange hilltop wine from Toro, to the new project from Laura Lorenzo, the epic wines of Lagravera, the gorgeous, expressive wines of Loxarel, the ever surprising, grown up wines of Jose Antonio Garcia, and, well you get the picture…

One name sits right up there on that list is Bodegas Fulcro, owned by Manuel Moldes Murano, an unassuming local to Sanxenxo in the Val de Salnes, who works out of his family’s garage using fruit from vines meticulously grown on old plots around the town in which he lives. One day spent with him back in 2016 was enough to convince me we had found a true star in the making and, without being too hyperbolic, I felt we had found the perfect grower a region I love dearly and spend a great deal of time exploring but which was becoming more and more over run with ‘new’ stars. 

Chicho illustrated how Albarino can effortlessly absorb its micro-origin, expressing it clearly and precisely without ever being too loud or showy. His restraint in his winery was obvious too, everything was just allowed to happen slowly and without his ego (he doesn’t really have one) getting in the way. At the time they optimised my mantra of ‘tension seekeing’ and still do to this day.

So it was with relish that I read Ferran Centelles excellent review of Rias Baixas in JancisRobinson.com and found Bodegas Fulcro being spotlighted, and I quote:

“…some of the very best wines, showing well-defined mineral character and magnificent bottle evolution. Fulcro is, for me, the most promising of the small producers, making extremely authentic and tasty wines.” The full article is available now to subscribers.

Included in the article, where wines were tasted blind, were the 2017 Nun Dunas Albarino as the highest scoring wine, with 18 Equilibrio receiving 18/20 and 15 Pedreira 17.5. 

We will be shipping the new wines from Chicho in early Spring, so let us know if you would like to receive prices of the new cuvees, and make a reservation.