By Rose Murray Brown MW   Published in The Scotsman 20 July 2024

“We started planting Albarino in 1976 and our neighbours said we were crazy – at that time everyone grew red grapes here”, says Marcos Barros Lopez (pictured above) of Maior de Mendoza winery.  “Now it is boomtime for Albarino in Rias Baixas, making up 95% of plantings”.

I am standing with Lopez under a traditional granite ‘parral’ (pergola) in his prized old Finca Las Tables vineyard.  To my left, I have a view (pictured below) out to one of Rias Baixas’ six estuaries down to Carril fishing village (renowned for its clams) – and on my right is a shelter break of eucalyptus and pine trees surrounding the vines on this hillside.

This is one of the most northerly vineyards in Salnes subzone, the beating heart of Rias Baixas DO in Spain’s most north-westerly vineyards, with 70% of plantings in the region.  Albarino is king here; this thick-skinned grape thrives in the cool wet climate where regular Atlantic sea mists drift in across the vines.

“There is a lot of humidity with perfect conditions for mildew, so wide pergolas ensure aeration”, explains Lopez.  “Everything is done by hand, so labour costs are high.  Albarino will never be cheap; something big groups investing often do not realise”.

Expansion in Rias Baixas has been at breakneck speed.  In 1988 there were 30 wineries with just over 584 hectares.  Today there are 169 wineries with 4,321 hectares planted, with more to come.  Land here fetches some of the highest Spanish vineyard prices.  The popularity of Albarino has seen big Spanish groups like Torres, Freixenet and Vega Sicilia arriving to cash in.

But Rias Baixas is very different from other Spanish regions.  It is highly fragmented and very traditional – the land of ‘minifundismo’, with 20,000+ smallholdings.  Every house (and there are many houses hugging this beautiful coast) has its own vines – so investment in large tracts of land is impossible.

Alberto Cabaco of the impressive new Pentecostes winery, in southerly Rosal subzone, is an example of a local investor who struggled to amass land.  Having made millions from frozen fish, he wanted to leave a legacy reviving the old vineyard history of the land.

He did not want to buy grapes from growers, he wanted to have 10 hectares of his own vineyards, but has ended up with three separate plots.  One of the terraced plots at Paza Barreira in Villaza (see below) is just three hectares, but Cabaco had to deal with 40 different smallholders – and right in the middle is one small plot where the owner has refused to sell.

Rias Baixas is all about the Albarino grape – but styles vary.  In the ‘grand cru’ Salnes areas of Meano and Cambados, where historic Fefinanes winery is based, Albarino is thrillingly pure, sharp structured with incisive acidity and saline.  Not surprisingly it has become known as the ‘Burgundy of Spain’ making fresh zippy unoaked aperitifs, more textured styles with richness from longer lees ageing – and it has great affinity to oak.

Albarino ages amazingly well too – vintages of 2013 back to 1989 were astonishing with freshness replaced by baked apples, nuts, honey and texture.

“Albarino is like a rough diamond – you can get what you want or you can blend it”, claims Maria Taboada at Adegas Galegas (pictured below) in Condado de Tea subzone, close to the Portuguese border.  It is warmer and drier down here in southern Rias Baixas, with broader less chiselled Albarino – and often the best wines, like Galegas’ Veigadares, are blends with other local white grapes – Caino Blanco, Loureiro and Treixadura.

With such rapid expansion across Rias Baixas, winemakers are only starting to understand their granitic terroir, so my guess is that single vineyards will be the next big thing.  There is still a New World mindset, with more focus on winemaking than terroir, but as Chilean-born winemaker Diego Rios Munoz at Granbazan winery explains, the focus will now be on granitic soil research and microvinification.

Albarino is grown in Uruguay and New Zealand with interesting results, but in its cool damp homeland in northwest Spain the style is thrillingly unique – with piercing purity, salinity and minerality you will not find elsewhere.

WINERIES VISITED IN RIAS BAIXAS DO:

Salnes: BODEGAS TERRA DE ASOREI

Imported into UK by Gerard Seel

Modern winery established by 6 different families in 2008 – with a new winery built in 2015 and 50 hectares of vineyards (vines are 15-80 yrs).  The focus here is on Salnes subzone.  This is the first winery with a warehouse made of local Galician wood with solar panels on the roof.  The winery is mainly stainless steel tanks.  Owner Roque Duran – who is also a television presenter – showed me around – with winemaker Sofia Vilanova (pictured below).  They make three brands: 1953, Nai (vineyards very close to the sea) & Asorei (from more traditional vineyards near Cambados)

Albarino ‘Nai e Senora’ 2022 Bodegas Terra de Asorei

£13.19 reduced from £16.49 De Burgh; £14.50 Swig Wine

Fresh vibrant with herby notes, lemony flavours with zippy acid and a touch of salinity.

 

Albarino ‘Sobre Lias’ 2022 Bodegas Terra de Asorei

£13.59 reduced from £16.99 De Burgh

Light pear and honey notes, dried apricot flavours with creamy soft rounded mouthfeel from regular lees stirring.

Albarino ‘Private Selection’ 2021 Bodegas Terra de Asorei

£18.50 Gerard Seel

Richer tropical fruit notes, mango and apricot, fresh vibrant with good acidity;12 months lees ageing with weekly batonnage in the last few months.

Albarino ‘Barrica’ 2022 Bodegas Terra de Asorei

£19.99 De Burgh

Six months oak – quite obvious on the palate, but good balancing richness giving it a more Burgundian feel.

Salnes: BODEGAS GRANBAZAN

Imported into the UK by Boutinot Wines

A stylish neoclassical blue-tiled winery – clearly designed on a French chateau – with 40 years of history.  The winery is built half underground to keep temperatures constant and cool year-found.  It is located about 3 km from Cambados in Salnes valley.  Originally founded in 1981 – but when the founder’s son took over he sold to Rioja group Bai Gorri.  They plan in the new investment periods to have 70 hectares, 95% of which are in Salnes subzone.  Wines are sold in flute bottles.

The current winemaker is Chilean-born Diego Rios Munoz (pictured below) who has been at Granbazan since 2019 (he has worked at Amayna in Chile’s Leyda Valley, Domaine Drouhin in Oregon and Heymann Lowenstein in Mosel in Germany).  He reckons that Rias Baixas currently has a new world mindset focusing too much on winemaking, rather than discovering the terroir so his future focus will be on granitic soil pits and microvinifications.  It was raining very heavily during my visit here, so I sadly did not get to see the vineyards.

Albarino Green Label 2023 Bodegas Granbazan

£16.50 Scottish Gantry

From vines over 35 years grown on the banks of Arousa estuary – this is a cuvee from 100 different microplots of growers.  A classic clean cut Albarino with fresh saline notes – it makes up 50% of Granbazan’s production with 250,000 bottles produced annually

Albarino Amber Label 2023 Bodegas Granbazan

£24 Aitken Wines, Dundee

Mature 35 year old vines, harvest selection; 50% estate fruit/50% grower fruit; 10-12 hours maceration; aged on lees for at least 8 months with twice weekly batonnage.  More intensity here with tropical fruit flavours, light saline notes, long finish.

Albarino Limousin 2021 Bodegas Granbazan

£30.95 ND John Wines; £32.65 NY Wines

This project was launched in late 1980s when they began to experiment with ageing in French oak – although the style has changed with less oak used.  Fruit comes from the highest vineyards on Tremoedo estate; green pruning, leaf stripping, long maceration and very low yields.  Apricot and vanilla, light smoky notes, rich and intense from a cool vintage – but the warmer vintage 2019 tasted was richer and even more intense.

Albarino Limousin 1989 Bodegas Granbazan

Still relatively fresh with luscious dried apricot fruit, curry leaf notes – incredible length

Salnes: BODEGAS DEL PALACIO DE FEFINANES

Imported by Wine Traders; available in The Wine Society, Waitrose, Lay & Wheeler & Taurus Wines

Set in C17 baronial palace around a historic square in the centre of Cambados.  The estate has always been in the same family, the King originally gave them a noble title.  In 1904 the current owner’s grandfather founded the winery – the first winery in the Rias Baixas appellation.

The winery is now run by descendant Juan Gil (pictured below) who makes 200,000 bottles (the winemaker is Cristina Mantilla who works with tanks squeezed into the narrow palace complex).  They have one hectare of vineyards actually at the palace – and the rest of the fruit from 20 hectares mostly in Cambados (they buy from 60 families).

Fefinanes’ labels are so beautiful – originally designed by Enrique Mayer in 1928 which was the first vintage for their Albarino.  Fefinanes were the first to bottle Albarino!

Albarino 2023 Bodegas Fefinanes
£21.99 Waitrose; £22 The Wine Society

Lime and green apple fruits, taut incisive acidity, fresh and vivid – made by the first winery established in Rias Baixas in 1904, still run by the original Gil family in their C17 palace.

Albarino ‘1583’ 2023 Bodegas Fefinanes

£32 The Wine Society

Rich intense mango notes, fresh acidity, very fine – fermented in French oak with brief ageing on lees for 4 months in barrel with regular batonnage for 2 months.  1583 refers to the birth of the man who became Viscount of Fefinanes who built the palace.

Albarino Armas de Lanzos 2018 Bodegas Fefinanes

From best selected grapes, initial ferment in stainless steel followed by extensive settling in vat – it was then kept in 500 litre oak vats without their lees prior to bottling.  Herby dense, shell oyster texture, very pure and rich with firm acidity – at its best with suckling pig suggests the owner.

Albarino Armas de Lanzos 2013 Bodegas Fefinanes

First vintage of this wine – now beautiful deep yellow, baked apples, nuts and honey with a luscious soft texture.

Albarino 2017 Bodegas Fefinanes

This is their standard Albarino with some bottle age – very impressive with mango notes, struck match notes, still magically fresh and vibrant.

Salnes: BODEGAS MAIOR DE MENDOZA

Imported by Sommeliers Choice

Pioneers of Albarino in Rias Baixas DO – with the largest plantation of the 1970s – when they started planting Albarino against the advice of neighbours.  They were also pioneers in the use of ‘lees’ which they have been using since their first vintage.  They are also pioneers in sustainable farming with more than 30 years working without herbicides.

This premium winery is in the northern part of Salnes valley in Pontevedra near Carril village (just 30 minutes drive from Santiago de Compostela).  It is run by Marcos Barros Lopez – and was originally named after C14 lady who used to own the land where their Finca Las Tablas vineyard is based.  The winery extension was built in 2002 with an array of small micro tanks for experimentation. They only plant Albarino in their vineyards – and Lopez is a long time grower of the variety and clearly an astute manager.

 

Fulget 2023 Bodegas Maior de Mendoza

£15.37 Sommeliers Choice

Light floral notes, zippy fresh, grassy with good acidity.

 

Albarino Sobre Lias 2023 Bodegas Maior de Mendoza

£20.58 Sommeliers Choice for 2022 vintage

Dried fruit notes, tense, minerally, acidity clearing driving the structure here

 

Albarino Sobre Lias 2016 Bodegas Maior de Mendoza

N/A

Toast, almonds and dried figs, rich rounded, shows how Albarino looses freshness but takes on texture with age.

 

Finca Las Tablas 2018 Bodegas Maior de Mendoza

£37.45 Sommeliers Choice

Rich intense single vineyard Albarino with one year on lees and 6 months in oak – it has weight and breadth, light herb notes, rich citric fruit, minerally, saline edge and a lingering finish – with a similar purity of fruit you would find in Burgundy’s Chalonnaise.

Red: Variedades Tintas 2022 Bodegas Maior de Mendoza

Juicy and fresh light bodied, light cherry fruits, well made example of Mencia, Espadeira, Loureira Tinta & Cainto Tinto – mainly 23 year old vines: 11%

O Rosal: BODEGAS ALTOS DE TORONA

Imported by Highbury Vintners, Majestic Wine & Waitrose

A large family winery founded in 1996 by Horacio Gomez Araujo (they also own a winery in Ribera Sacra), now run by his sons Barja and Ivan.  The winery is located in Tomino, O Rosal subzone.  They own 100 hectares in O Rosal subzone (where they have the largest single-plot estate in the appellation on Monte Galeno mountain) and also have 14 hectares in Salnes – producing 1.8 million bottles annually.  Their plan is to buy more vineyards rather than rely on growers.

They are based in O Rosal; 1.5km from the river Minho and 7km from the sea.  100km south of northern Salnes here – so they get less rain (180 days rather than Salnes’ 240 days) and it is slightly warmer – with granite soils (but less sand than Salnes).

Albarino is their main variety, but they also grow Caino Blanco, Godello (planted at the top of their hill at 260m), Treixadura and Loureiro Blanco (they used to have Caino Nero but now focus only on whites).  They have produced one of the first single variety Godellos in Rias Baixas.

Altos de Torona seems an innovative bodegas, keen on experimenting with different fermenting vessels; they have one of only two granite eggs that I saw in Rias Baixas.

They are one of 40 producers in Rias Baixas producing sparkling Albarino – using the traditional method – they produce 20,000 bottles of brut annually.

In Rosal subzone, Altos de Torona are one of 12 wineries – so this southerly subzone is not quite as intensively cultivated as Salnes to the north.  Stylistically the wines are different with a breadth and warmth of fruit without the chiselled sharpness and taut acidity of Salnes.

Albarino 2023 Bodegas Altos de Torona

£14.99 Waitrose

Rosal Albarino with light pearskin notes and a softer rounded texture; tank fermented with 6 months on lees.

Godello 2022 Bodegas Altos de Torona

N/A

Gentle aromatics, soft rounded fleshy palate with a creamy texture and good balancing acidity – from grapes planted at the top of their hill in Rosal).

Caino Blanco 2022 Bodegas Altos de Torona

£17.99 Majestic Wine

Herby notes, soft rounded palate, light spice with white pepper – from the tricky Caino Blanco which needs to be harvested at just the right moment to get a good balance of flavour and acidity.

Rosal 2022 Bodegas Altos de Torona

£17 RRP

My favourite wine in their range that I tasted – bright fruit notes with pear and limepeel flavours, soft rounded and intense.  Made from 80% Albarino with 10% each of Caino Blanco and Loureiro – shows that Albarino in Rosal can benefit from support from the other local grapes in the blend.

O Rosal: PENECOSTES / ALBERTO CABACO

Imported by Wine Traders in UK & Searsons in Ireland – selected wines available in The Wine Society

Frozen fish trader Alberto Cabaco (pictured below left) wanted to leave a legacy and revive old vineyard plots in the area.  He is particularly interested in the history of the region.  He began in 2018 buying up plots from smallholders – and now has three separate vineyard areas with 3.7, 5 and 1 hectares.

In Pazo Barreira near Villaza village is the focal point for production where they plant five different varieties across the five orientations on steep terraces – and finds there is a big difference in ripeness even across his three hectares.  Albarino is the most planted – with Loureiro, Treixadura, Caino and Godello.

In Pazo de Moldes, alongside C14 defensive tower, he has invested in a state of the art winery.  His winemaker is Jorge Marcote.  They use part natural/part cultured yeast – making only two wines – the first is 100% Albarino – the second is a blend of varieties which I preferred (with all varieties fermented separately).

This is an exciting new project with great potential.

ALBARINO 2021 Bodegas Pentecostes

Baked apples, creamy voluptuous fruit, warm broad style with lees ageing adding texture

 

ALBARINO 2022 Bodegas Pentecostes

More floral with slight herby undertones; rich rounded fruit with slightly less acidity than 2021

 

VARIETALES 2021 Bodegas Pentecostes

£25 The Wine Society; Searsons wine merchants (for 2021)

Blend of 75% Albarino, 15% Caino, 10% Loureiro and Treixadura – from a cooler vintage this has fabulous breadth of flavour and intensity from such young vines.

 

VARIETALES 2022 Bodegas Pentecostes

£25 The Wine Society; Searsons wine merchants (for 2021)

Blend of 62% Albarino, 10% Loureiro, 8% Treixadura, 15% Caino Blanco and 3% Godello; great breadth of flavour, rich rounded fruit intensity.

Condado de Tea: ADEGAS GALEGAS

Imported by Corney & Barrow

A family winery based at the beautiful Pazo de Almuina (pictured below with views across to Portugal.  The family also have a property in Monterrei region too.   Their Rias Baixas project has 50 hectares with some of their oldest vines back to the 1980s – they own 30 hectares in Condado de Tea, 15 hectares in O Rosal and 5 hectares in Salnes.

The Pazo de Almuina property is tucked into the Minho valley, with vineyards in a sheltered terraced amphitheatre with three different training systems and sheep keep the grass down between the vines.  They are based right on the Spanish/Portuguese border overlooking Moncao/Melgaco in Portugal – so when you are walking around their vineyards you phone keeps telling you that you are in Portugal.  Their winemaker is Lucia Barboso (who actually lives in Portugal).  The name of their wine brand is Veigadores (Veiga means land near the river and Ares means wind which keeps diseases at bay).

The Condado de Tea region is influenced by both sea and mountains and benefits from cool nights which helps retain acidity.  Daytime temperatures can be up to 35 degrees C – but nights can drop to 10 degrees C.

Galegas only use oak ferment for the vineyard wines close to the walls, as the ripeness is greater giving a different richer profile of Albarino.   They also blend with other white grapes Treixadura, Loureiro & Caino Blanco alongside Albarino – which is typical of southern Rias Baixas.

They also have a large granite egg which they are experimenting with – and use it to make a wine called Altitude.  The use of granite (instead of concrete) is inspired by the bedrock of the region – and historically everything here was made in granite, even fermenting lagares.  The naturally cold nature of the stone aids in keeping the wine cool whilst fermenting and is believed to add a touch of salinity to the wine.  Other wineries in Rias Baixas who own granite eggs are Altos de Torona & Pazo Torres Penelas.

DANZA ALBARINO ESCUMOSO BRUT NV Adegas Galegas

N/A in UK

The best Albarino sparkling I tasted during my visit – light toasty nose with a fresh lively palate, well balanced: 38 months on lees

VEIGADORES BRANCO DE BRANOS 2020

85% Albarino fermented in oak foudres with 15% Caino, Loureiro and Treixadura fermented in stainless steel; 6 months blending in tank followed by 6 months bottle age.  Orange blossom notes, rich rounded fruits, very good intensity from a warm vintage.

VEIGADORES BRANCO DE BRANOS 2021

Same blend as above, but from a cooler vintage – much more limey and minerally with wet stone undertones – more obvious acidity here and a saline finish.

Join Rose’s Fine Wine Dinner at Prestonfield on 27 November www.rosemurraybrown.com