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| Pedralonga “Carolina” Rías Baixas 2022 ($28/btl) Espedrada Godello Valdeorras 2019 ($45/btl) Mixtura Blanco Ribeiro 2019 ($47/btl) Mixtura Tinto Ribeiro 2018 ($47/btl) Moldes “Acio Mouros” Rías Baixas 2020 ($40/btl) |
| The northwest of Spain is a treasure trove of unique, antique grape varieties, some of which are only now waking from a historical and politically fraught slumber and showing us what they can do. And it turns out, they can do quite a lot. Albariño and mencia get all the glory, but there’s much more to the story than these varieties, as you will taste tonight. In addition to a plethora of old grape varieties there is the added effect of the cooling winds of the Atlantic. The overall sensibility is one that savors saltiness and geode-like, crystalline minerality. Rías Baixas and Ribeiro are not places to expect plush, oak-aged, boozy, velvety fruit bombs.
During the Franco era, many super-regional, old school, traditional grape varieties were suppressed in Spain in favor of varieties that were historically recognized and easily fungible as commodities, e.g., tempranillo, used to make Rioja, never suffered. Tonight, we’re tasting five wines from Galicia and Ribiero made from grapes that are most likely unfamiliar and perhaps not so easily fungible, of which godello is likely the most well-known. So, just a little bit of the familiar (and often wonderful) Galician albariño tonight, and instead, two different wines made from the white grape godello, a variety capable of intense minerality and terroir-sensitivity—all the pizazz of albariño, with an added undergirding of texture. Much less familiar are caiño blanca, caiño redondo (to mess things up even more, these two grapes are not genetically related), loureiro tinto, and espadiero. But wait, there’s more! More that will wait for a later tasting. |