O Salnés

Now, the monks really, really liked this grape because it was a high-quality grape.

So as they spread out from Santiago de Compostela to make new monasteries in the region, we see cultivation of grapes in places like Val do Salnés, the Salnés Valley, O Rosal.

We have a lot of documentation about what went on until the 1700s when the Spanish government seized property from the church and sold it to wealthy aristocrats who continued winemaking.

Again, that was the big thing.

Sandy soils.

Phylloxera does not like sand.

So there are tons of pre-phylloxera vines in the Val do Salnés from at least the late 1700s.

That said, they still had issues, and they still had to replant.