Paco & Lola: Intelligent design

14/07/2012

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Modernity, originality, dynamism and intelligence are the keys to success which definite a business venture created in 2005 with very clear ideas. The ideas in question being to demystify wine, to strip it of its elitist and only for those-in-the-know character, and to reach a younger generation – or a ‘less-aware’ public – via pure enjoyment and pleasure for its own sake. Nothing at Paco & Lola is unintentional: its unusual, ground-breaking image; its sales and marketing strategies, and even the character of its wines are perfectly calculated and designed to offer the public a hedonist, innovative experience with lots of class.

Equally impressive is the fact that the venture in question is a joint effort: a group of viticulturists and winemakers from DO Rías Baixas, from the sub-region of O Salnés, to be more precise, launched an initiative to create their very own co-operative — the ‘Sociedad Cooperativa Vitivinícola Arousana’ — in order to capitalise on their vineyards and give a more professional character to their wine production. Currently, the association boasts 430 members and is one of the appellation’s most important co-operatives whose products are available in more than 20 countries.

The Salnés Valley, in the province of Pontevedra, is a privileged natural environment for vine cultivation. The optimal balance between rainfall, the fluctuation between day and night temperature in the ripening season, and the slightly acidic sandy-loam granite soils, have turned this region into the perfect place for the production of top-of-the-range wines. The slopes which run down to the sea are particularly suited to the ideal evolution of the emblematic Albariño grape variety, which on its home-ground expresses the full potential of its aromas and flavours.

Paco & Lolaboasts 200 hectares of its own vineyards divided in around 2,000 small plots, a traditional practice in the smallholding-world of Galicia. The division by size, type of soil and orientation of each individual vineyard is a valuable asset when it comes to making the exquisite coupages released on the market every year.