Wine & Spirits - August 2019 - 56

YEAR'S BEST GALICIAN WINES
92 | Coto de Gomariz

$23

2017 Ribeiro X Albariño (Best Buy) ^
Ricardo Carreiro grows this albariño in a
vineyard planted on schist soils (xisto in
Spanish), where it takes on a brisk mineral
spice. The fruit is pale, with Honeycrisp apple
and Marcona almond depths, ending with
the saline impression of a freshly shucked
scallop. Pour it with any raw fish; one taster
suggested yellowtail crudo with coconut milk
and shallots. § David Bowler Wines, NY/P.R.
Grisley, Salt Lake City, UT

This is a selection of young vines from those
parcels, fermented in neutral oak foudres
where it rested on the lees. With a fresh scent
of pale wheat along with broad flavors of
golden apples and apricots, it's a warm white
for scallops in brown butter. § Eric Solomon
Selections/European Cellars, Charlotte, NC

RE D
MONTERREI

271838

93 | Jose Luis Mateo

271264

91 | Viña Costeira

$27

91 | Vilerma

$18

2018 Ribeiro Colección 68 Treixadura
Albariño Godello ^ This is 85 percent treixadura, grown in granitic sand with some shale,
and it's the tightest and freshest of the Viña
Costeira wines we tasted. There's the bright
flavor of peaches just coming into ripeness,
zesty and fleshy. Serve it with grilled fish, or
with corn and crayfish this summer. § W.Direct,
Lawrence, KS
271995
2017 Ribeiro (Best Buy) ^ This is a full-bodied white based on treixadura, its flavors as
savory as almond paste, lasting on earthy
scents of fennel and brighter, sunnier notes
of daffodils and lemon. It has the amplitude to match Dungeness crab, and the cut
to serve with Dover sole. § Kysela Père et Fils,
Winchester, VA
271463

86 | Alanís

$11

2018 Ribeiro Ama Vida Treixadura (Best
Buy) ^ Treixadura grows fleshy in Ribeiro, this
one taking on a supple texture and generous
cider-apple flavors. It's rich and a little
lactic, built for veal scaloppini. § Private Cask
Imports, Palm Beach, FL

VALDEORRAS
272007

90 | Rafael Palacios

$24

2017 Valdeorras Louro Godello ^ Rafael
Palacios is converting several high-elevation
vineyards in Valdeorras to organic farming.
56

WINE & SPIRITS

AUGUST 2019

$24

2016 Monterrei Candea Tinto (Best Buy) ^
This is the kind of red wine that makes me
smile-fresh, bright and pretty, with nothing
complicated to get in the way. It tastes like a
red-raspberry shrub made from deliciously
ripe fruit, lasting with tart flavors of plum
skin and bitter chocolate that give it an elastic snap. It's a blend of equal parts mencía,
bastardo (trousseau), garnacha tintorera and
araúxa (tempranillo), grown in the hills just
north of the border with Portugal. If you love
great cru Beaujolais, check this out. § Olé &
Obrigado Imports, New Rochelle, NY

RIAS BAIXAS
271152

87 | Pedralonga

$22

2016 Rías Baixas Tinto do Umia (Best Buy) ^
Tasting coordinator Heidi Singer described
this wine as "a Burgundy gone wild, funky
and floral, with the manure and leather
scents of a horse stable." The fruit has a
raspberry tone, and some tobacco edges, its
acidity built for roast suckling pig or woodgrilled chicken and broccoli rabe. § David
Bowler Wines, NY

it may seem that way only because wines of
this stature and grace are rare in this region.
If this is penitence for Raúl Pérez's sins, those
sins may have led him to create a wine that
is no longer overtly Spanish, or only Spanish
in its austere celestial beauty. § Skurnik Wines
& Spirits, NY
271060

93 | Raúl Pérez

$75

92 | Guímaro

$28

2017 Ribeira Sacra El Pecado ^ Raúl Pérez
made his first vintage of El Pecado (the sin)
in 2005, after finding this 1.2-acre plot of
100-year-old vines planted on steep blackslate slopes above the Sil River. The vines are
mostly mencía interspersed with bastardo,
garnacha tintorera, caíño and brancellao.
In 2017, the wine is fragrant with scents of
roses, coriander and pork stock, a completely
different expression of the region than the
2017 La Penitencia. Its rocky slate tannins fill
the mouth with flavors of ripe red currants
and bright blackberries, tight and almost airy
as the wine opens along crisply defined lines. §
Skurnik Wines & Spirits, NY
271715
2016 Ribeira Sacra Camiño Real ^ Pedro
Rodríguez makes this wine from 40- to
60-year-old vines in Amandi, mostly mencía
harvested in a mix with merenzão, mouratón, brancellao, caíño, sousón and alicante
bouschet. He ferments it as whole clusters,
without added yeasts, aging it in a range of
small barrels and larger oak casks. The wine
has the cool woodland scents of chanterelles
and the juicy ripeness of tiny wild strawberries. The tannins are supple and black, yielding notes of anise, needing age or roast duck
to show the flavors at their best. § José Pastor
Selections, Fairfax, CA

RIBEIRA SACRA
271061

96 | Raúl Pérez

$75

2017 Ribeira Sacra La Penitencia ^ This parcel of centenarian vines has a similar mix of
varieties as El Pecado (also recommended
here). But the 2017 La Penitencia delivers a
deeper, more energy-packed wine. This is a
thoroughbred built on anise-scented tannins
and the concentrated flavor of tiny forest berries. Its structure is more parallel to a great
Barolo than to most Ribeira Sacra wines, but

271952

92 | Camino Novo

$24

2017 Ribeira Sacra Amandi ^ Carlos Diaz
makes this wine from his family's vines,
ranging between 80 and 100 years of age, on
terraces above the Sil River. It's concentrated
and tightly held within its black tannins, until
those tannins begin to yield red-fruit flavor
and scents of hibiscus and lavender. Sappy
http://www.oleimports.com/wine/2022-candea-tinto https://www.costeira.es/en/wines/colection-68-treixadura/ https://www.spanish-wine-exclusives.com/wineries/camino-novo/
Wine & Spirits - August 2019

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