Pazo de Barrantes Albarino 2015
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Suckling
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Parker
Robert
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James Suckling
Aromas of melon, limes and minerals. Extremely aromatic with some white flowers. Full to medium body, lots of cream and cooked-pear character and hints of fresh herbs on the finish. Some exotic fruit.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I caught the 2015 Albariño from Pazo de Barrantes just before bottling, but it had already been blended and clarified, and was in stainless steel to be bottled in the next few weeks. There is a slight hint of carbonic gas. In 2015, which they consider an almost perfect harvest, they have decided to release the wine slightly earlier; some 25 year ago it was released in September and most recently in June, and this 2015 will be released end of April/May; so they took that into consideration when they aged the wine to make it approachable early. 2015 was a warm, early harvest that also helped in that direction. The nose is very expressive with grassy aromas and very balsamic, mixing bay leaf with waxy apples, a little minty, with hints of quince and some white pepper. The palate is quite unctuous, in their style, perhaps amplified by the exuberance of the year, while keeping the freshness and acidity. For comparison's sake I also sampled the 2012, which could be a similar vintage; it is evolving really nicely and gaining complexity. 95,000 bottles should be filled in April 2016. The Rías Baixas wines from Rioja's Marqués de Murrieta have turned into some of the most reliable wines of the appellation.
Range: 90-91
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Pazo de Barrantes is part of the Marqués de Murrieta family, one of the founding fathers of modern Spanish winemaking. The winery has been associated to the Counts of Creixell since the beginning of the 20th century, and the property in the hands of the family since 1511. Over the years, the Count of Creixell´s family has given its own personality to every wine produced at the winery. In the 1990s, the Galician property turned into an estate designed specifically for the albariño growing, the great and noble local grape variety. This enabled the family to join all the efforts to offer careful and precise winemaking in the heart of the Salnés Valley.
The Pazo de Barrantes estate is located in the Salnés Valley of Rías Baixas and is the largest single estate in the valley. The property is close to the Galician coast in the western part of Spain, just north of Portugal. The winery is settled near the southern tip of the Rioja Alta in the middle of the beautiful Ygay Estate, a unique 300 hectare vineyard that guarantees complete control over the grape source of the wines and is the key to the quality and style of Marqués de Murrieta wines
Bright and aromatic with distinctive floral and fruity characteristics, Albariño has enjoyed a surge in popularity and an increase in plantings over the last couple of decades. Thick skins allow it to withstand the humid conditions of its homeland, Rías Baixas, Spain, free of malady, and produce a weighty but fresh white. Somm Secret—Albariño claims dual citizenship in Spain and Portugal. Under the name Alvarinho, it thrives in Portugal’s northwestern Vinho Verde region, which predictably, borders part of Spain’s Rías Baixas.
Named after the rías, or estuarine inlets, that flow as far as 20 miles inland, Rías Baixas is an Atlantic coastal region with a cool and wet maritime climate. The entire region claims soil based on granite bedrock, but the inlets create five subregions of slightly different growing environments for its prized white grape, Albariño.
Val do Salnés on the west coast is said to be the birthplace of Albariño; it is the coolest and wettest of all of the regions. Having been named as the original subregion, today it has the most area under vine and largest number of wineries.
Ribeira do Ulla in the north and inland along the Ulla River is the newest to be included. It is actually the birthplace of the Padrón pepper!
Soutomaior is the smallest region and is tucked up in the hills at the end of the inlet called Ria de Vigo. Its soils are light and sandy over granite.
O Rosal and Condado do Tea are the farthest south in Rías Baixas and their vineyards actually cover the northern slopes of the Miño River, facing the Vinho Verde region in Portugal on its southern bank.
Albariño gives this region its fame and covers 90% of the area under vine. Caiño blanco, Treixadura and Loureira as well as occasionally Torrontés and Godello are permitted in small amounts in blends with Albariño. Red grapes are not very popular but Mencía, Espadeiro and Caiño Tinto are permitted and grown.