Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
There is a limited library release of the young wine a couple of years after it was first sold, of which I tasted the 2015 Albariño Colección, a wine I missed at the time of the original release. It now has spent a couple of years in bottle, which has mellowed its aromas and palate and provided additional complexity and depth. The wine has had time to settle in bottle, and the aromas have changed into quince and peach, clean and nuanced. The palate has pungent, focused and sharp flavors combined with volume and depth. It is clean and delineated, with good length lifted by a tasty, almost salty touch. This is evolving at a slow pace and should continue doing so for a good five years or more. A great vintage for this bottling.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: For so long now, Albariño has fought to get more shelf space in the American marketplace. While the wines are quite excellent, their traction is slower than what I thought it should have been. The 2015 Pazo Señorans is a standout wine. TASTING NOTES: This wine shows excellent depth and length on the palate. Its aromas and flavors of ripe core and stone fruits should pair it well with a bowl of steamed mussels. (Tasted: June 29, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
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.