The Ruiz family has made wines in Galicia since the 1860s and Ángel Ruiz, Santiago’s grandfather, was one of the first to bottle wines in the region. Santiago picked up the baton from his grandfather and continued his pioneering spirit by installing the first stainless steel tanks in Rías Baixas. He was also a key figure in establishing the Rías Baixas DO in the 1980s. It is remarkable that Santiago only fully dedicated himself to wine after retiring from a career in naval insurance. His contribution to the development of modern winemaking in the region, in such a short period, led a street in San Miguel de Tabagón to be named after him. The new Santiago Ruiz winery, built in 2007, is fully equipped with state-of-the-art winemaking technology. Here, head winemaker Luisa Freire, an expert in aromatic varieties, makes clean, expressive white wines that reflect the nuances of O Rosal’s site.

O Rosal is the most southerly of the five Rías Baixas sub-zones, situated on the north bank of the river Miño, which marks the border with Portugal. O Rosal enjoys more sunlight hours and lower rainfall than other subzones. The vineyards here benefit from both cooling Atlantic breezes and the moderating influence and increased airflow from the river. Soils in O Rosal are predominantly sandy over granite bedrock, creating wines with an aromatic richness and characteristic wet-stone minerality. Loureiro, a variety prized for its aromatic flavour profile, performs exceptionally well here and wines labelled ‘O Rosal’ must include this grape in the blend. This distinguishes O Rosal’s wines from the majority of Rías Baixas’ made from 100% Albariño. The Santiago Ruiz vineyards cover 38 hectares, planted on south-facing slopes on the banks of the Miño. All their vineyards are sustainably farmed, with harvest carried out by hand.

Santiago Ruiz’s ‘O Rosal’ is a blend of Albariño, Godello, Loureiro, Treixadura and Caíño Blanco. These varieties are all vinified separately in micro tanks, which Luisa affectionately calls ‘los niños’ (the children) and undergo a period of lees ageing before the final blend is assembled. The resulting wine is vibrant, with bright aromas of apple, apricot and ripe lemon coupled with subtle herbal notes and a stony minerality. The distinctive label is a map of the region, hand drawn by Santiago’s daughter to guide guests travelling to her wedding which took place at the winery.

The ‘Rosa Ruiz’ is made from 100% Albariño sourced from old, pergola-trained vines planted beside the old Santiago Ruiz winery (now a museum) in San Miguel de Tabagón. These old vines produce low yields of highly concentrated fruit, packed full of flavour. An extended pre-fermentation maceration, to extract maximum aromatics from the thick-skinned Albariño grapes, and five months of lees ageing following fermentation have resulted in a complex and textured wine with intense aromas of apricot and ripe lemon. This bottle also has a distinctive label, bearing a hand-drawn sketch based on an old photo of Santiago and his daughter, Rosa, standing on the balcony above the winery door.