Winemaker Notes
2011 was an excellent year for Galicia, offering the perfect elements for ideal maturation. Complex aromas of salinity exotic fruits with wet earth/herbal tones. The palate is textured with excellent acidity
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
We took the opportunity to taste a couple of old vintages that had not been tasted before so we could have some reference points, including the 2011 Albarino. 2011 was a huge crop, a record in Rías Baixas with 42 million kilos. They did a green harvest after a perfect flowering. Weather wise it was an almost perfect year, very dry and with healthy grapes, not exactly the same as the current 2016, but with similarities. It was an uneven year, with some really poor wines and others, like this one, that are evolving magnificently, with a fresh nose with notes of mint and eucalyptus and a clear Riesling-like note of petrol. There are hints of hay and straw, and the palate is glossier than the 2012, juicy and tasty, rounder, with clout. It's evolving nicely and it doesn't seem to be in danger of being too old in the near future. If you don't revisit these old vintages you might find it hard to believe how well they age! They produced close to 90,000 bottles of this 2011.
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.