Raia Seca

Xose Manuel Lourido Lopez

The Louridos and Lopez families have been dedicated to grape growing in Ribeiro since medieval times. Located in Ourense, the southeast part of Galicia, close to the border with Portugal, Ribeiro has been renowned for wine production since the Cistercian monasteries were established in the 10the century. Before phylloxera, the region was so highly regarded that the price of a barrel of Ribeiro fetched more than a barrel of Burgundy. 

The Lopez family, on Xose’s maternal side, has been farming vineyards for many generations. One of the first memory of Xose was going down to the cellar and help his grandfather. He still remembers the scents and noise of that time.The Lourido family, father side, is Jewish Portuguese.The family used to be merchants and later became specialized in buying, blending, and commercializing bulk wines. 

The generation of Xose’s parents was the victim of post Spanish civil war. Galicia suffered from depopulation, poverty and unemployment. People lost respect for rural life.They preferred leaving their small, poor (destroyed) and empty villages and move to big cities, such as Vigo, A Coruña, Barcelona, UK and USA. Like many of their peers, the family winemaking tradition nearly ended during this time. 

Xose learned about the family winemaking history from stories about grapes, vineyards, and nature that his grandfather told around the table after long summer lunches, and also from one uncle who fostered Xose’s interest in wine. 

Xose studied agricultural engineering and worked for the syndicate group of coops in Ribeiro, until the early 2000s, when a boom of recovering indigenous grape varieties arrived in Ribeiro and Galicia. Xose was involved in establishing two large wineries - Dominio do Bibei and Coto de Gomariz which were leaders in the new wave of Galicia producers. In 2014, he moved back to Monterrei, and soon established his own small winery, Raia Seca, or dry limit. 

Xose says, “I am a crazy person because I leave grasses in the vineyards, I do winter pruning to control yields, and I do not spray any synthetic product in my vineyards. My dream is to produce a wine to remember and enjoy. And my philosophy is “We are not staying here forever. We are renting our space and time.”

Raia Seca Tinto

Varietal: Arauxa (Tempranillo) Color: Red Wine

Vineyard: “Terra Rubias”. Vineyard size: 0.23 ha. Vines planted in: 1998. Orientation: South. Soil type: Clay, sand and white quartz. Altitude: 390m. Climate: Atlantic with continental climate influence. Only medicinal plants extracts with sulfocalcic broth is sprayed in the vineyard. Hand picked.

Winemaking: De-stemmed. No maceration. Pneumatic press. Fermentation in stainless steel vats. Natural yeast. Malolactic fermentation. Ni fining, no stabilization, ni filtering. 5mg/hl SO2, at harvest.

Raia Seca Branco

Varietal: Treixadura Color: Red Wine

Vineyard: “Terra Rubias”. Vineyard size: 0.14 ha. Vines planted in: 1998. Orientation: South. Soil type: Clay and white quartz. Altitude: 400m. Climate: Atlantic with continental climate influence. Only medicinal plants extracts with sulfocalcic broth is sprayed in the vineyard. Hand picked.

Winemaking: De-stemmed. 48h maceration. No press. Fermentation in stainless steel vats. Natural yeast. Malolactic fermentation. Ni fining, no stabilization, ni filtering. 5mg/hl SO2, at harvest.