Winemaker Notes
#57 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2023
Suggestive pale yellow color, greenish flashes, steely trim, clean and very bright. Intense aromas of water fruit (royal gala apple) and suggestive sweet lemon, bitter orange jam, with pleasant aromas of flowers (St. John's water) and lemon leaf, lemon curd, salted fruit (white plum, mirabelle ) and fresh notes of aromatic herbs (lemon balm, sage, lemon thyme). Noble, fresh and balanced entry, fruity sensations (juicy apples, San Juan pears), fresh balsamic, sensations of sweet lemon caramel and citronella, the palate is creamy, intense and fresh, with minerality that gives way with oceanic saline sensations, long-lasting with a very good final retronasal.
Pair with seafood and fusion cuisine.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A succulent white, with hints of petrol and brine serving as a minerally underpinning for concentrated flavors of poached apricot and yellow peach, mandarin orange peel, dried tarragon and Marcona almond. Crisp, lightly spiced finish.
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James Suckling
Sliced apples, fresh pears, lemons and seashells on the nose. It’s nicely restrained, mineral and saline on the palate, with a medium body and fresh finish.
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.