Courtesy of Tourist Office of Spain.

THE WINES OF RÍAS BAIXAS:

WHeRe HIstoRY AnD tRADItIon Meet tHe neW AnD MoDeRn

About the author: Pameladevi Govinda is a freelance wine, spirits and travel writer. Her contributions have appeared in Spain Gourmetour, CITY, Zink, Vibe, Daily Candy, Cheers and Imbibe. Her website and blog is: www.pamgovinda.com

Adegas Valmiñor

By Pameladevi Govinda

When venturing into Spain’s Galicia region for the first time, you’ll be in awe of the leafy green landscape. You can read the words a thousand times over in your guidebook, which will probably tell you that this part of Spain resembles Ireland more than it does the rest of the country, but it won’t translate until you take it in yourself. Here in northwestern Spain, rugged cliffs dot the coastline, rolling green hills stretch inland from the Atlantic, precipitation is an almost daily occurrence in Spring and Fall, and estuaries (called rías) snake their way throughout, providing a rich medley of seafood. One particular region of Galicia, Rías Baixas, refers to the “lower rías” and it is lauded for its mouthwatering wines.

The white wines from Rías Baixas can be as refreshing as a dip in the ocean on a sweltering day. They´re a perfect antidote to the decades-long trend towards big, full-bodied vino – a trend that could be petering out. José Pastor, owner of Vinos and Gourmet Inc., an importer of Spanish wines, concurs with this view. “I love cool climate wines that deliver a sense of elegance and delicacy," he says. "Galicia, and of course Rías Baixas, makes the kind of wine that can be enjoyed at the table because they have this great dose of acidity and lower levels of alcohol. You can drink more than a glass and maybe even go for another bottle.”

A number of grapes are cultivated in Rías Baixas, including Loureira Blanca, Treixadura, Caiño Blanco and Godello (among the whites), along with Caiño Tinto, Espadeiro, Loureira Tinta, Sousón, Mencía and Brancellao (among the reds). But the star of them all is Albariño, which makes up ninety percent of the vines planted in the Rías Baixas DO (Denominación de Origen). “Albariño is the queen of the Spanish white grape varietals. It can be fresh and fragrant when young but can also offer a lot of complexity with age. It is like Riesling – one of the few white grapes that can express a sense of place,” declares Pastor.

Albariño comes in all forms, with tastes ranging from lean and mineral to lush and fruit-driven. Provenance, farming practices and different winemaking methods bring about different styles of the wine. André Tamers, owner of De Maison Selections, a wine importer specializing in northern Spanish wines says, “Albariño is something that we currently see being defined producer by producer with regional subtleties.”

There are three distinct sub-zones for winemaking in Rías Baixas, with one zone in particular causing a buzz among wine professionals. Paige Granback, the Spanish wine buyer at The Jug Shop in San Francisco comments: “Albariño profiles vary across the microclimates. My favorites tend to come from the Val do Salnés area.”

Kerin Auth, co-owner of Tinto Fino-Vinos de España, an all-Spanish wine shop in New York City, says, “I think that there are unique qualities about all the sub-zones of Galicia. They say that the wines of Salnés, which is the oldest and original sub-region, right on the western coast of Spain, produces characteristic, quality-driven albariños.” She adds, “I also enjoy the wines of O Rosal which, due to warmer temperatures, are a bit fuller and riper.”

Tinto Fino carries Do Ferreiro, a Salnés-based, old-vines producer, which has a following among in-the-know wine professionals. It is imported by De Maison Selections. As André Tamers explains, “Do Ferreiro’s idea of Albariño is an intensely aromatic wine that smells of the ocean and crushed oyster shells with bracing minerality framed by very present acidity. This is the Salnés textbook definition of Albariño. Then you have other regions which, due to difference in soil types and proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, have different characteristics.”

Rías Baixas is usually associated with refreshing, quaffing wines meant for early drinking but we’re starting to find more complex examples coming out of the region. Cristina Mantilla is a winemaker who consults

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