Raised in a family with a long-standing winemaking tradition in Ribeiro (his father Agustín Formigo Raña was the founder of Señorío de Beade), Manuel Formigo set up on his own as a colleiteiro (small producer) in 2006. Colleiteiros have a cap on production of 60,000 litres and their wines must be made from grapes grown in their own vineyards. Manuel's efforts to recover rare local grape varieties are nothing short of remarkable. He grows six hectares of vines in seven different vineyards, all of them in Beade, on the right bank of the Avia river. Planted on sandy granitic soils called sábrego, most of his plots are exposed to the sun throughout the day. Miñoteria, where a new winery was built in 2013, is Formigo’s flagship vineyard. It has some of the oldest Treixadura vines in the appellation (about 40 years old) that were planted in the late 1970s when some producers started to recover indigenous varieties in the area. Another noteworthy vineyard is Pousos with 0.8Ha of red varieties like Caíño, Tintilla, Ferrol, Sousón or Brancellao planted five years ago plus some newly planted white Caíño. As it is usual in the area, most wines are blends of Treixadura, Ribeiro’s most widely-grown grape