Wine & Spirits - August 2019 - 54

YEAR'S BEST GALICIAN WINES
Our blind panels tasted 167 wines from Galicia ^sfromPvenc over the past 12 months. Joshua Greene, our critic for Spain, rated 35 as exceptional
(90+) and 20 as Best Buys. Find a complete list of wines tasted and all reviews at wineandspiritsmagazine.com.

W HI T E
MONTERREI
271837

93 | José Luis Mateo

$24

2016 Monterrei Candea Blanco ^ José Luis
Mateo, of Quinta da Muradella, makes his
Candea wines at a friend's cellar, using grapes
he helps farm at his friend's vineyard. This
is a blend of treixadura, doña blanca and
verdello, fermented in stainless steel without
added yeasts and aged on the lees. The wine
starts out reductive, needing a shake in a
decanter to bring out the succulent flavors
of lemon curd and nectarine. The underlying
salinity, joined by notes of white miso and
hay, leave a subtle and racy impression. It
would be delicious with wild mushroom
empanadas. § Olé & Obrigado Imports, New
Rochelle, NY
271386

85 | Valminor

$15

2017 Monterrei Minius Godello (Best
Buy) ^ Round and ripe, with warm peach-cider
flavors, this is a wine to chill for spicy fried
chicken. § Kysela Père et Fils, Winchester, VA

RIAS BAIXAS
271675

95 | Do Ferreiro

$56

2017 Rías Baixas Cepas Vellas Albariño ^ The
sandy granite soils of Salnés have sustained
a few small parcels of ancient vines, that soil
protecting their roots from the ravages of
phylloxera. Gerardo Méndez farms one of
those blocks, 2.5 acres of vines he estimates
to be 200 years old. They are trained high off
the ground to keep the bunches dry, exposed
to what sun and wind might counter the
coastal rains. And they produce a wine with
astonishing concentration of flavor, spicy
and layered in its earthiness, notes of fennel
in a lasting dynamic between scents of fresh
pear and baked golden apple. It's rare to find
a white wine with this much flavor intensity,
as well as sheer grace. § De Maison Selections,
Chapel Hill, NC
271679

93 | Do Ferreiro

$49

2017 Rías Baixas Adina Albariño ^ A sumptuous albariño, this wine takes the Atlantic
pallor of the grape and expands on those
white nectarine notes with darker shades of
54

WINE & SPIRITS

AUGUST 2019

salted almond and pistachio. It's rich without weight, combining the taste of the ocean
and the brightness of ripe fruit in a satisfying
white for lobster or langoustines. § De Maison
Selections, Chapel Hill, NC
271678

93 | Do Ferreiro

$49

2017 Rías Baixas Lourido Albariño ^
Gerardo Méndez selects this wine from parcels of 50-year-old vines rooted in weathered granite. There's a delicate pink cast to
its zesty grapefruit flavors. The texture is
just creamy enough to surround the wine's
structure, creating a push-pull of freshness
and toasty richness. Tina Vaughn of The Simone in NYC likened those toasty flavors to
the yeastiness of fregola sarda, a couscouslike pasta from Sardinia; you could bridge it
to this wine with saffron and clams. § De Maison Selections, Chapel Hill, NC
271677

92 | Do Ferreiro

$53

92 | Do Ferreiro

$29

2017 Rías Baixas Dous Ferrados Albariño ^
This wine ferments in 500-liter casks, where it
ages for eight months on the fine lees. While
the fruit sustains its clean freshness, that
time on the lees has enriched it with notes
of buttercups and daffodils, as well as some
pomelo bitterness. It's bold and juicy enough
for skate Grenobloise,or grilled swordfish. § De
Maison Selections, Chapel Hill, NC
271674
2016 Rías Baixas Albariño ^ A dynamic white
with leesy depths, this ranges from high
notes of green apple, Asian pear and meadow
flowers to darker notes of wheat germ. The
fruit is ornate in its ripeness, hinting at kumquats and pineapple. It's heady and creamy,
a complement to gambas al ajillo. § De Maison
Selections, Chapel Hill, NC
271810

92 | Pazo Barrantes

$59

2015 Rías Baixas La Comtesse Cacheiro
Albariño ^ Cacheiro is an old-vine parcel in
Vicente Dalmau Cebrián-Sagarriga's estate in
Salnés. Though he's best known as the president of Marqués de Murrieta, the legendary property in Logroño, La Rioja, which his
father purchased in the 1980s, his family has
owned Pazo Barrantes since 1511. He focused
the estate on winegrowing in the early 1990s.
La Comtesse grows at an old vine parcel on

the estate, the wine vinified in 3,000-liter
French oak casks, where it ages on the lees
for six months, then rests another year. The
2015 is still youthful, its tangy pear-like fruit
expanding toward mango and grapefruit,
rhubarb and vanilla, with notes of forest
mushrooms. It's a complex, rich albariño
that will benefit from further aging. § Maisons Marques & Domaines USA, Oakland, CA
271807

92 | Pazo de San Mauro

$39

92 | Tricó

$26

91 | Eladio Piñeiro

$32

2016 Rías Baixas Sanamaro Sobre Lias ^
Meadow scents of Queen Anne's lace
brighten this wine's flavors of fruit and earth.
It tastes of crunchy green apple, toasted
almonds and juicy cantaloupe rind. And it
smells like the wet cement paths through a
garden in the rain. Spiciness comes up with
air, beginning to dominate the fruit, needing
time to age. § Torgar Group, Miami, FL
271032
2015 Rías Baixas ^ José Antonio López makes
this wine from vineyards in Candado do Tea,
inland from the coast. He gives it extended
aging in tank to build richness, and releases
it several years after most albariños of the
vintage have been sold and drunk. His 2015
is a meaty white, its tart green-apple fruit
sustaining freshness against the delicate
brothy notes of age. It's refreshing in a big
way, ethereal in spite of its concentration and
pale ardor. The flavors would stand up to bay
scallop ceviche. § Skurnik Wines & Spirits, NY
272070
2015 Rías Baixas Amodiño Albariño ^
Eladio Piñeiro has a long history in Rías
Baixas, having sold his wine company, Mar
del Frades, in 1983, while holding on to his
family's vineyards. This wine comes from
his old vines in Salnés. It aged in stainlesssteel vats for two years on fine lees and that
long aging creates a richly autolytic wine;
you might anticipate its deep golden color
but not the supple saturation of the fruit,
spilling out of the glass in languid notes of
baked nectarine and apple. Serve it with
meaty fish, or braised veal. § Think Global,
Santa Barbara, CA
271566

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Wine & Spirits - August 2019

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