Tempos Vega Sicilia Releases Deiva 2024, Its First Spanish White Wine

Tempos Vega Sicilia said on October 27 that it is releasing Deiva 2024, the first Spanish white wine in the company’s history, after years of vineyard purchases, research and winemaking work in Galicia’s Rías Baixas appellation.

The wine is a 100% Albariño produced from vineyards in two Rías Baixas subzones, Condado do Tea and Val do Salnés, in the province of Pontevedra in northwestern Spain. The company said the project is based on combining the different profiles of the two areas, with Condado do Tea contributing ripeness and structure and Val do Salnés adding freshness and acidity.

The launch is the first commercial result of a project that began with vineyard acquisitions in 2018. Tempos Vega Sicilia said it now has 24 hectares of owned vineyards and a winery in Crecente, and that the initiative has involved an initial investment of 20 million euros.

Pablo Álvarez, chief executive of Tempos Vega Sicilia, said the company arrived in Galicia with a clear objective but also with the need to learn from local conditions and from growers with long experience in the region. He said Deiva is both the product of that process and the start of a longer-term effort.

In its announcement, the company presented Deiva as a white wine project built for gradual development rather than immediate scale. It said the goal is to produce an Albariño with its own identity, depth and the capacity to evolve over time. Production for the first vintage is limited. The company said about 32,000 bottles were made, while the technical sheet released with the launch listed 32,877 bottles.

The vineyard base is spread across Crecente and A Cañiza in Condado do Tea and Ribadumia, Cambados and Meis in Val do Salnés. According to the technical data, the vines have an average age of 20 years and are planted at a density of 1,000 vines per hectare. Yield was listed at 8,000 kilograms per hectare, or 52 hectoliters per hectare.

Tempos Vega Sicilia said the name Deiva comes from the Deva River in Condado do Tea. The company also tied the project closely to the role of water in the landscape. It said some vineyard sites receive water through traditional Galician levadas, or channels, and that studying how water, soils and parcels interact has been part of the work behind the wine.

The company said it has worked with scientific institutions, including CSIC, Spain’s national research council, on subjects such as the genetic diversity of Albariño, local microclimates and disease prevention. That includes work related to mildew, a major concern in humid Atlantic vineyard regions such as Rías Baixas.

The technical sheet for Deiva 2024 described a difficult start to the 2024 growing season. A warm, wet winter was followed by a rainy spring, which encouraged early budbreak but also complicated flowering and berry development. The company said the season then diverged between the two subzones. In Val do Salnés, which is more exposed to Atlantic influence, the cycle was slower and wetter. In Condado do Tea, with warmer and drier conditions, vineyard development moved ahead earlier.

According to the company, weather improved in August, when warmer and drier conditions helped restore vine balance, improve fruit health and support ripening. Conditions before harvest were favorable enough for a relatively fast picking period. The grapes were harvested by hand in 12-kilogram boxes from September 8 to September 20. Bottling took place in June 2026.

The winemaking details released by the company show an effort to avoid a single vessel or method defining the wine. Deiva 2024 was made using stainless steel, concrete, granite and large oak fudres. The technical sheet said 60% of the wine was kept in stainless steel and 40% in large-format vessels, followed by between six and nine months in bottle before release. The finished wine has 13.5% alcohol.

Tempos Vega Sicilia said it does not intend to follow a fixed recipe for future vintages. Instead, it said, each year will be handled according to the character of the harvest and the needs of the wine. That approach reflects the way the company is presenting the label: as a project whose style is still being defined through observation, site work and repeated harvests.

The launch gives Tempos Vega Sicilia an entry into one of Spain’s main white wine appellations and into the country’s best-known Albariño-producing region. The company said the wine will be sold in Spain and in international markets.

Its technical material said Deiva 2024 was designed with aging potential in mind and could develop for more than 15 years under proper cellar conditions. The company recommended storage at 12-14C with 60% humidity and said the wine is best served at 12C.