Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Comparing the 2019 Cíes with the 2020 was an eye-opening exercise of how different the style of the two years is for whites from Rías Baixas. The 2019 vintage is riper and warmer, and the wines are more opulent and have more tropical notes. The 2020 vintage is serious, sharp and mineral, with less alcohol and higher acidity. This 2019 is soft and mellow, with a moderate 12.8% alcohol and high acidity, eight grams (and a pH of 3.32), which are very good parameters for freshness but still milder than the 2020. The next vintage comes in a Burgundy bottle; 2019 is the last vintage in a Rhine bottle. This Albariño fermented in oak, and then 5,000 bottles were filled in July 2020, after some six months in neutral barrel.
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.