Grown within the limits of Rías Baixas but outside the appellation, the 2010 As Covas Pinot Noir is a joint-venture between Rodrigo Méndez and Raúl Pérez, a rare Pinot Noir form seven year-old, granite vineyards purchased in a village called Rivadumia. They have now planted a small quantity of Pinot Noir, but as it's not a common grape in the Rías Baixas zone, the wine is sold as table wine, without any appellation of origin. It has a pale ruby color with some orange tints and a fragrant nose of decayed roses and strawberries, a little jammy and very spicy. The palate is quite light, with high acidity, fresh and long, sharp, linear rather than round, an unusual wine, hard to pin down, but very pleasant to drink. They believe Pinot Noir does well in Rías Baixas, but needs to be harvested early, in late August.