Wine & Spirits - August 2019 - 57

YEAR'S BEST GALICIAN WINES
and round, this is a pretty wine to decant in
its youth, or to cellar for a few years, allowing
the flavor complexities to develop. § Spanish
Wine Exclusives, NY
271939

90 | Fedellos do Couto

$45

2016 Ribeira Sacra Bastarda ^ Curro Bareño
and Jesús Olivares make this from a range
of parcels in the Ribera do Sil and the Val
do Bibei, the vines ranging from 10 to 70
years old, at elevations from 1,150 to 2,460
feet. Most of it is merenzão (aka, bastardo
and trousseau), thought it does include
some other local varieties. It's a rustic
beauty, with the scent of road tar, tobacco
and chorizo, soil-driven and electric, even
as its tart mulberry flavors keep it pretty.
Decant a bottle and pour it with cured meats. §
Eric Solomon Selections/European Cellars,
Charlotte, NC
271555

90 | Isaac Fernandez
Selección

$22

2016 Ribeira Sacra Adrás Mencía (Best
Buy) ^ Bright and spicy, this wine packs the
raw power of its black slate soils, its flavors
buried in blueberry-skin tannins, hinting
at red-fruit notes of strawberries under all
the meaty warmth. Give it a year or two to
mellow, then serve with braised pork. § Grapes
of Spain, Lorton, VA
271335

88 | Algueira

$18

2017 Ribeira Sacra Mencía (Best Buy) ^
With its clean cherry flavors and sleek chocolatey tannins, this is a fragrant red for braised
pork or slow-roasted chicken thighs. § Polaner
Selections, Mount Kisco, NY

RIBEIRO
271660

96 | Viña Mein

$35

2016 Ribeiro Tinto Clásico ^ Javier Alen
was one of the leaders of the renaissance
of Ribeiro when he founded Viña Mein in
1988, replanting hillside vineyards with local
varieties and sustaining some older parcels
that he recently turned over to Dani Landi
and Fernando Garcia, the forces behind
Comando G in the hills outside of Madrid.
The newcomers have shifted the farming
toward organic practices and separated out
some interesting selections, like this blend of
caíño longo, brancellao and a little tintilla,
from vines planted in 1935. I had the kind
of emotional and physical reaction to this
wine that made me question whether it was
just the pull of memories, of a summer on
the beach in Galicia when I was 12 years old.
So, I gave a glass to Rachel DelRocco Terrazzas, our tastings editor, who described it as

"super serious wine-every time I go back to
it, I get something different-floral, smoke,
chocolate, plum. The way it dissipates in
the mouth is like a fairy godmother saying,
'Here's some beautiful wine.' Poof. And then
it tingles on and on." § De Maison Selections,
Chapel Hill, NC
271707

planting his own vineyard in Ribeira in 2011.
This wine, a blend of brancellao and caíño
longo, is transparent in its red-fruit flavors,
all tart red berries, umeboshi plums and lasting hibiscus spice. Pour it with polpo gallego,
or spicy grilled pork. § José Pastor Selections,
Fairfax, CA
271307

$35

2013 Ribeiro Abadía de Gomariz ^ Ricardo Carreiro adapts principles from
Rudolf Steiner's and Masanobu Fukuoka's
philosophies for the farming of his vines,
selecting fruit for extended aging to make
this blend of sousón, brancellao, ferrol and
mencía. It rested a year in 300-liter oak
barrels, then for several years in bottle,
developing a supple texture and rich notes
of plum syrup. Smoky and generously round,
it's a wine for slow-braised pork. § David Bowler
Wines, NY/P.R. Grisley, Salt Lake City, UT
271308

95 | Luis A. Rodríguez
Vázquez

2015 Ribeiro A Torna Dos Pasás ^ Rodríguez
Vázquez blends this wine from his younger
vines-10 to 20 years old-including brancellao, caíño longo, caíño redondo and ferrol.
He lets it ferments spontaneously in stainless-steel tanks, then ages it in 300-liter oak
barrels, bringing the ripe, floral juiciness of
the grapes to life, the wine's dynamic energy
seeming to capture the sun in its black raspberry afterglow. Its scents of pipe tobacco
and flowers have the resonance of a minor
chord. Then there's a radish-like rooty note to
the tannins that brings you back for another
taste. § José Pastor Selections, Fairfax, CA
271661

94 | Viña Mein

$56

2015 Ribeiro Tinto Atlántico ^ Like the
Tinto Clásico, also recommended here, Tinto
Atlántico grows out of the collaboration
between Viña Mein founder Javier Alen and
Comando G's Dani Landi and Fernando
Garcia. This is a blend of brancellao, sousón
and caíño longo, from vines planted in 1935
and farmed with organic and biodynamic
practices since Landi and Garcia began
working with the vines in 2013. It seems to
channel the anise that grows wild in Galicia,
the scent mingling with bright red-currant
flavors and cracked-green-peppercorn spice
to produce a wine that feels tense, cool and
electric. If Landi and Garcia continue to
make wines like this, Rodríguez Vázquez
may have some company at the very heights
of Ribeiro wine. § De Maison Selections, Chapel
Hill, NC
272048

91 | Casal de Arman

$17

2017 Ribeiro Eira Dos Mouros (Best
Buy) ^ Focused on sousón and caiño longo,
this blend fills the head with spice, a cool,
brisk wine that buzzes with cracked-blackpepper scents. There's a burst of sour cherry
flavor, the wine light enough to serve with
shellfish, like razor clams. § Think Global,
Santa Barbara, CA
271712

91 | Viñedos de Gabián

$38

2016 Ribeiro Xanledo ^ José Pereiro LópezQuecuty was working as a pharmacist in
Vigo, on the coast, helping out Raúl Perez in
Rías Baixas in his spare time, before he began

90 | Coto de Gomariz

$25

89 | Coto de Gomariz

$18

88 | O'Ventosela

$14

2016 Ribeiro The Flower and the Bee (La
flor y la abeja) (Best Buy) ^ This sousón,
fermented spontaneously in stainless steel,
presents the purple-black juice of the grape
in a meaty red, full and velvet robed in the
middle, with a hard, tannic edge in the end.
Decant it to open up the tannins, and serve
it with a salad of grilled pork. § David Bowler
Wines, NY/P.R. Grisley, Salt Lake City, UT
271036
2017 Ribeiro Juan Miguez Viña Leiriña
(Best Buy) ^ Peppery, with cranberry flavors
and iron-like tannins to hold its fat fruit, this
is a red for roast turkey. It's mostly mencía
(70 percent), with sousón and brancellao. §
Skurnik Wines & Spirits, NY

VALDEORRAS
271037

88 | Virxen de Galir

$17

86 | Avancia

$18

2016 Valdeorras Pagos de Galir Mencía
(Best Buy) ^ Earthy and black, this wine has
gamey scents of mixed berries wrapped in
creamy notes of vanilla from its eight months
in oak barrels. Its smoky mineral tones will
add depth to flank steak. § Skurnik Wines &
Spirits, NY
270968
2017 Valdeorras Cuvée de O Mencía
(Best Buy) ^ Scents of coriander and cherry
skins make this a spicy, heady mencía with
tangy tart fruit. Give it plenty of time in a
decanter before serving with pulled pork. §
Jorge Ordóñez Selections, Dedham, MA n

WINE & SPIRITS

AUGUST 2019

57
Wine & Spirits - August 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - August 2019
