Couto Mixto

Francisco ‘Xico’ Pérez lives in his own world—literally. He’s one of a handful of inhabitants of Santa María de Mandín, a small village on the border of Spain and Portugal. He began making wine in 1996, drawing on traditional farming and winemaking techniques. He sold his first wines in the local tavern, and ten years later he started making and bottling wines under the Couto Mixto label. He farms 3 hectares of his own organic vines planted to local grape varieties, and works closely with his friend and fellow biodynamic winegrower in Ribeiro, Bernardo Estévez. He makes two main wines, a red and white.