Galicia Coast

The best known wines in this region are the delicate, lively, aromatic whites that go perfectly with shellfish, coming from Rias Baixas. Here the production is small scale, with some of the best producers only making a few hundred cases a year, and most growers only having a few hectares of vines. Traditionally poor and ignored by the rest of the country, it was only until recently their wines found a ready and rapturous market outside Galicia.

Similar to Vinho Verde in Portugal, the vines here have been trained on pergolas, horizontal trellises well above shoulder height. The trunks are widely spaced to make use of every square foot of precious earth and minimizing the effect of the sea mists.

Val do Salnes is the most important sub-zone, the coolest and dampest, but it is O Rosal which has the best vineyards, producing wines lower in acidity than Val do Salnes. Condado do Tea is the warmest, with more powerful and less refined reds. Granite is the main soil type in the area along with Soutomaior, but in Ribeira do Ulla it is more alluvial.

The thick-skinned Albarino dominates as it resists well the mildew that persistently threatens. The youthful varietal has a big follower but increasingly experimentation also on blends, oak, and deliberately aged versions.

I have just tasted a fantastic Albarino, the best I have ever tried:

Wine: Pazo Senorans Albarino Seleccion de Anada

Region / Country: Rias Baixas Spain

Vintage: 2003

Grape: 100% Albarino

ABV: 12.5%                

Price: HK$490

Tasting Date: 3 December 2011

Official website: www.pazodesenorans.com

Wineshark Score: 93

Fairly light lemon in color, this Rias Baixas Albarino has a fairly intense and developing nose of peach, jasmine, dried apricot, grapefruit, lemon, pear, toast and lees. Medium in acidity, the wine is fairly full body with also fairly intense flavors of peach, grapefruit, lemon, stony, ripe apple, honeysuckle, toast and lees. Overall of very good quality, the nose and palate are both intense and complex, showing not just the fruity and aromatic characters typical of Albarino but also the ageing on lees. Well balanced and integrated, the wine is ready to drink now and at its peak.