While it’s always a good play to trust quality producers to deliver stellar entry-level wines, one of the most exciting developments in the Albariño category has been tasting the proliferation of top bottlings of truly world-class quality. There’s no silver bullet here: you can find on this list young vines and pre-phylloxera vines, stainless steel and oak, single-parcels and blends. The common denominator is that all of these wines are not only among the best examples of Albariño produced today, period, they stand tall among the great white wines of the world. And the best part? With fewer drinkers hip to single-vineyard Salnés than to Grand Cru Chablis and Grosses Gewächs Riesling, the quality for money on offer here is exemplary.
ALBAMAR RÍAS BAIXAS ALBARIÑO ‘FINCA O PEREIRO’ 2023
• 100% Albariño
• Sourced from Finca O Pereiro, a sandy clay parcel that was formerly underwater but planted in 2004 after being reclaimed from the Ría de Arousa
• Spontaneously fermented in tank
• 9 months’ élevage in two neutral 2,500L oak foudres
We often talk about seaside vines in the context of Rías Baixas, but this parcel couldn’t be more extreme– when Xurxo Alba was a child, this spot was still under the waters of the Ría de Arousa. It was only later, when the parish of Castrelo reclaimed some land at a creek mouth in order to put in a soccer field, that a few additional postage-stamp vineyards were born around the edges of the field. Pereiro was planted in 2004, and this special place gives one of the top wines in Xurxo’s cellar every year.
ALBAMAR RÍAS BAIXAS ALBARIÑO ’69 ARROBAS’ 2022
• 100% Albariño from 60- to 100-plus-year old vines in five of Xurxo’s oldest granitic sand parcels
• Zero oak— spontaneously fermented in tank and raised there for 18 months on the fine lees
• Unfined, unfiltered, minimal SO2 at bottling • an arroba is an old liquid volume measure which in Galicia equaled 14.5 liters, ergo ’69 arrobas’ refers to 1000 liters, or the production size when Xurxo began making the wine in 2014 (production is now around 4000 liters)
Year in, year out one of the top cuvées in the entire Rías Baixas appellation
Widely considered to be one of the single top cuvées in Rías Baixas, ’69 Arrobas’ is an assemblage of five different centenary parcels around the Salnés. Not a shred of oak or a trace of lees stirring to be found here, just an insanely pure laser-beam of old-clone Albariño.
ATALIER BY RAÚL PÉREZ ALBARIÑO RÍAS BAIXAS ‘LA ENCRUCIJADA’ 2021
• 100% Albariño
• Sourced from a selection of the oldest and most sea-adjacent vines of the pre-phylloxeric Finca del Atelier in Dena
• Whole-cluster pressed and fermented spontaneously in thoroughly seasoned French oak
• Protracted aging (approx. 18 months) on the fine lees in a single 600L barrel before bottling
While all the vines supplying Raúl’s “entry-level” (what a ridiculous term!) Atalier ‘A Cruz das Ánimas’ bottling of predate phylloxera, there is a subsection of the plot that, though the planting records are lost to time, is noticeably older than the rest. In 2020, Raúl began separating the produce of these venerable, grizzled elders into a single-barrel bottling called La Encrucijada. The result is simply stunning: ‘Puligny-Montrachet made from Albariño’ might give you an idea, but the wine really must be tasted to be fully understood on its own terms.
LAGAR DE FORNELOS RÍAS BAIXAS ALBARIÑO ‘LINDEIROS’ 2021
• 100% Albariño
• Sourced from the 3.8-hectare Finca Troviscoso planted to granite pergolas in 1987 on granitic sand in the Salnés
• Fermented and raised in a 600L concrete egg, two 400L French oak barrels, and stainless steel tanks
• 3,800 bottles produced
The maiden United States release of a long-percolating secret project in the Lagar de Fornelos cellar, Lindeiros marries the crackling energy of top-quality fruit from the Finca Troviscoso in Salnés with a forward-thinking élevage of concrete egg, tank, and 400L French-oak bocoyes for a luxurious, textural experience.
Reach out to your Skurnik Wines & Spirits representative to explore these offerings and discover how they can elevate your program.
