We now descend to the lower floor, whose main purpose is to recreate two clearly differentiated spaces: the traditional winery and the industrial winery. Just as in ancient castles and monasteries, this was the place designated for the production and storage of wine. The thick stone walls maintain a constant temperature throughout the year, something fundamental for preserving the excellent quality of our wines.
We now enter the inner workings of a traditional winery.
After the grape harvesters pick the grapes, we need to transport them to the winery. Traditionally, this was done in baskets made of chestnut strips, transported on carts pulled by cows or oxen. The baskets differed in size and shape depending on the area of Galicia where the vineyard was located. Here we have on display two small baskets, typical of our area, the Condado region, and a larger basket, the so-called "Cesto Culeiro." The “Culeiro” is the basket that was traditionally used in the north of the province of Pontevedra, the Ribeiro region, and the Ribeira Sacra, and it could hold up to 45 kilos of grapes. The “carrexón”, the person who carried the grapes, bore the “culeiro” on top of the “molido,” a straw braid ending in two wooden sticks, which was placed on the forehead like a diadem, so the force was exerted by the person's forehead.
The effort involved in transporting the grapes in this way, along with the topography of the Ribeira Sacra wine-growing landscape, where the vineyards are situated on steep slopes beside the Miño and Sil rivers, has led to its winemaking tradition being known as “heroic viticulture”.
Next, we can see a curious display case containing various tools that were used, and are still used, in traditional wineries. These include antique taps, a manual bottle washer, wedges and a large mallet used to reposition the metal rings that hold the barrels together, the "piezá," a brush for removing impurities from between the wooden staves, and the "cabazo," a tool we will discuss later.
Beside the display case, beneath an imposing stone hearth, we can see a representation of how the sale of wine from previous vintages would have taken place. This wine would be stored in wooden barrels awaiting the right buyer.
The measure used for liquids in southern Galicia, and in this case for all transactions related to the buying and selling of wine, was the "cabazo". This measure refers to the tin container used, which varies depending on the location. Here, for example, in Salvaterra it holds 15 liters, but if we move to the neighboring town of As Neves it would hold 16, or to Redondela where it would hold 20 liters.
To prevent fraud in transactions, all "cabazos" had to be verified by the authorities. This was done by engraving a registration number on the outside of the container and welding two metal marks on the inside. The purpose of these marks was to indicate the exact size of the "cabazo" for that territory.
Each cabazo sold was marked with a chalk mark on the barrel, and it was common practice that, upon reaching 11 containers sold, the producer would give the buyer the so-called "ola," which is the difference between the metal marks and the mouth of the cabazo.
It was common for producers to try to cheat, unsoldering the metal markings and soldering them a little lower down, thus gaining less than a quarter of a liter from each barrel. Therefore, many buyers brought their own containers when they went to buy wine. An example of this is the largest container we have to the left of the barrel.
In the central part of this first section, we can also see various traditional tools such as taps, sprayers, demijohns, and "cabazas" used to transport the prepared spray to the vineyard.
