The Sil river has carved a deep valley through the eastern edge of Galicia, and the vineyards here cling to its slopes at angles that look impossible to work. The terraces are held by dry-stone walls built on dark slate bedrock — the same slate that forms the roofs of every village in the valley. In September, harvest crews pick by hand because no machine could navigate the gradients. The result is a working landscape of extraordinary beauty, best seen from the road between A Rúa and Vilamartín, where you look across the valley to a far hillside that is almost entirely covered in vines.
The Godello grape was virtually rescued from extinction on these terraces, and walking among the vines gives you a sense of how precarious that revival was. Many plots are still tended by their original farming families, working land that their grandparents nearly abandoned. The combination of poor slate soils, steep drainage, and the microclimate created by the valley walls produces wines with a mineral intensity that you won't find in more generous growing conditions. If you can arrange it, visiting during harvest in late September or early October is unforgettable.