The day after I arrived in Galicia I took the train to Santiago de Compostela, trekked up the hill from the station to the cathedral—a sort of mini-Camino—hugged the saint himself, and spent a long day walking around the city. I rewarded myself that afternoon by slumping in some forgettable tourist bar and ordering a heaping racion of mussels and a big glass of Albariño. That was it. And it was perfect. The people who are bored with the “what grows together, goes together” narrative obviously haven’t been to Galicia, or drunk Albariño with shellfish by the sea in an old man bar in A Illa da Arousa, or seen fleets of bateas floating in the Ría de Pontevedra while they walk through trellised vineyards. This is all to say that if there’s a perfect pairing in this world, it’s Albariño and shellfish. The brine and the wine, baby. And if there’s a perfect Albariño, it comes from Galicia.
And what better way to celebrate the height of summer than by hosting an Albariño party?
That’s exactly what they do in Cambados every August, which somehow grew into International, National, or just plain Albariño Day—depending on who you ask. The real tradition is called the Festa do Albariño, and it comes from a competition between two growers back in the ’50s to see who made the best wine. The Festa became the event of the summer in Albariño country, attracting everyone from ministers in Francisco Franco’s dictatorship to pop stars.
In honor of Albariño Day, here are 10 wines that represent the best of Galician Albariño.
1. Compania de Vinos Tricó, “Tricó”
These are some of the greatest wines of Rías Baixas that you’ve never heard of. Besides being one of the founders of D.O. Rías Baixas, José Antonio López happens to be a brilliant winemaker. Tricó is his third winemaking project, and the project’s name comes from the word people in his village use for a child who is born a long time after the other siblings. The vineyards are located in the Condado do Tea subzone and they produce concentrated, honeyed wines that have a minerality reminiscent of great aged Riesling. The wine is kept in tank for eighteen months and twelve months in bottle before release.
2. Bodegas Albamar Albariño
Albamar combines the Alba family’s last name with the greatest influence on their wines: “o mar,” or the sea. Xurxo Alba took over the winery in 2006, introducing regenerative and sustainable growing and winemaking practices—no mean feat in the mildew-prone Rías Baixas. His flagship wine sees 5 months of contact with the lees, which adds a textured roundness counterpoint that plays perfectly against the saline, zippy acidity of Salnés Albariño.
3. Pazo de Señoráns Selección de Añada
Who said Albariño couldn’t age? This is the best kind of happy accident. The story goes that a tank of wine was stuck in a corner and forgotten about for a year or two, and the winemaking team at Pazo de Señoráns took advantage to explore the grape’s aging potential. Marisol Bueno was another founder of the Rías Baixas wine appellation, and her winery became a pioneer of aged Albariño. The wines are spectacular, combining candied orange peel and brioche from their extensive lees aging with a youthful acidity. Apparently the tasters at the Peñín guide think so too, because the 2013 release just received a coveted 100-point score.
4. Zárate Albariño
Eulogio “Locho” Pomares is the 7th generation to make wine on the Zárate estate, following in the footsteps of his great-uncle Ernesto Zárate—the same Ernesto responsible for starting the Festa do Albariño. Locho is quality-driven before all else, and you can tell by talking with him that his fastidious approach extends to all aspects of his winemaking. Zarate Albariño is sourced from 35+ year-old estate vineyards in the parishes of Sisán and Padrenda in the central Salnés valley. The wines are vibrant and mineral, and everything you would expect from top-quality Albariño from a time-tested producer.
5. Do Ferreiro
Gerardo Méndez had to convince his father (“O Ferreiro” or “the blacksmith” as he was known locally) to join up with the fledgling D.O. Rías Baixas, and almost failed. Luckily, he was able to talk him around. Thirty years later, Do Ferreiro has blazed trails both as a foundational Albariño producer and as a winery that under the watchful eye of third-generation Manu has expanded to try its hand with aged Albariño and terroir-driven single parcel wines. The flagship Albariño has the characteristic sea spray and lime nose that interplays with peach and apricot, with serious complexity on the palate.
6. Adegas Castrobrey “Sin Palabras”
Castrobrey is one of the few producers in the Ribeira do Ulla subzone—the last to join Rías Baixas in 2000. They’re now on the third generation of owners and winemakers to craft Albariño in the Valle de Camanzo. Ribeira do Ulla still gets a bad rap among some locals for not really being a part of the geographical Rías Baixas, but historical accounts of grape production put the Ulla together with the Salnés. Anyway, the whole D.O. is made up, so these quibbles shouldn’t really matter much. The wines are a bit more herbacious and tend to have a touch more alcohol, much like wines from the Condado do Tea. Anyone looking for an interesting wine from an unsung subzone should try to get their hands on a bottle.
7. Adega Entre Os Ríos “Komokabras”
Adega Entre Os Ríos (Between The Rivers) is part of a “what could have been” story. Remember when I said that Rías Baixas is made up? Without going too much into the history, at the time they put the appellation together, Barbanza was one of the many areas that were excluded from the first plans of Rías Baixas but still maintained a winegrowing tradition. It received “Vino da Terra” status in 2006. José Crusat makes small quantities of low-intervention, organically-farmed wines from old vines that in turn come from old clones of Albariño. “Komokabras” comes from the term “estar como una cabra,” meaning to be a bit crazy. It’s a greener wine than most, but maintains good balance and structure. It’s a great example of what a different side of Albariño can look like.
8. Manuel Moldes “Afelio”
Manuel “Chicho” Moldes cut his teeth at Bodegas Fulcro, making taut, granite-driven, mineral wines that wrap you up in a big aromatic blanket of sea salt, melon, and citrus peel. Now making wines under his own label, he crafts love poems to the Salnés terroir like his entry-level cuvée “Afelio,” which drinks like an electric sea salt and lime zap to the taste buds.
9. Martín Codax Albariño
It’s easy to exalt the small producer in Rías Baixas: there are a lot of them, and the ones that tend to come up again and again make some seriously high-quality wine. But there’s also much to be said for the large wineries that helped launch Rías Baixas to its current fame. Among them is Martín Códax, Rías Baixas’ first cooperative winery. Established in 1985, the winery gets its name from a famous Galician troubador. Now distributing through Gallo in the United States, their entry-level eponymous wine gives the average consumer the chance to discover Albariño, Rías Baixas, and Galicia as a whole.
10. Bodegas Forjas del Salnés “Leirana”
Rodri Mendez’ wines come racing out of the bottle, pulsing with Atlantic salinity and bright lemon-lime citrus. His project, Forjas del Salnés, works about 12 hectares of vineyards in the Salnés Valley, between Meaño, Sanxenxo and Barro. He stands out for having some of the oldest vines in the appellation: he cares for 180 year-old vines in Meaño which even make an appearance in old photos of the village. He isolates vineyards by soil type and ferments them separately. Most sites contribute to Leirana or Cíes, but if he likes the way a certain vineyard evolves he’ll bottle it as a single parcel.