Description
Diego Losada currently rents 15 parcels totaling just over 5 hectares, focusing on bush-trained vines with at least 60 years of age, in sites relatively isolated from other vineyard land so that any chemical treatments cannot taint the soils of his own. Using organic viticulture Diego encourages biodiversity, letting the natural flora grow amongst the vines, a philosophy that is “respectful of the environment, an agriculture-based practice that is not intrusive and uses only natural methods to maintain the biological balance in our vineyards.” He also green-harvests to attain yields as low as 1.5 kilo per vine, versus the more typical yields of 6 or 7 kilos in the region. Outside of working organically and controlling yields, Diego renounces a formulaic approach to vineyard work, opting for a more evolved and “intuitive” approach.
In the winery, Diego is extremely low-intervention since he wants his wines to retain their energy and life of the vineyards. In such, he employs a mix of unlined concrete vats and older oak and chestnut casks & foudres, since he feels that these materials breathe, while stainless steel is an inert material that will “kill” the nature within the wine. During elaboration he does not use pumps, additives or SO2 additions - starting with the 2016 vintage in his newly built bodega - stating that “enological products are cogs in the capitalist machine.” Diego views his winemaking as an extension of the creative process that he practiced in his days as a musician. A favorite Diego quote - “Too many people in natural winemaking copy and paste the words – they don’t struggle, they don’t feel their vineyards.” Clearly, Diego is not your average Viñador!
Une Rose de Blancs is Diego's first rosado, made originally by accident when Godello and Palomino grapes intended for In A Gadda Da Vida went into casks formerly used for red wine. Since the wine was a success in 2019, he has since replicated it. Partially destemmed Godello and Palomino grapes macerate for a few days on their skins in used French oak barrels that formerly held the must of the Mencia for 1984. The wine ferments in the same barrels, and rests there for 5 months before bottling. The finished wine is bottled without fining, filtration, or addition of SO2.
