Albariño, Lagar de Pintos

Lagar de Pintos is a family estate currently run by its 4th generation, winemaker Marta Castro-Pintos. The family home and winery are in a traditional Galician pazo, or manor house, in the Val do Salnés town of Ribadumia. The estate was originally a farmstead for raising sheep and cows, and in the 1950's the family planted grapevines.

Located in Spain's upper northwest corner, Rías Baixas is just above the border with Portugal, and means ‘low rivers’, a reference to the area's many rivers that lead to the ocean. The vines average 40 years old and are  grown in granitic and sandy soils from the estate’s seven vineyards, sitting just 5 - 25 ft above sea level.

Each of the seven plots is vinified separately. The grapes are gently whole bunch pressed and fermented using indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks and old oak barrels called foudres, enhancing the wine’s texture and aromatic complexity. The wine is then aged on the lees for 8 months in stainless steel tanks and used foudres with weekly batonnage. The finished wines from the different parcels are blended before bottling.

The wine is light golden in the glass, and offers a bold, aromatic nose full of juicy meyer lemon and citrus zest and a hint of white flowers backed up by a distinct Celtic Sea salt note. As the wine opens, the unripe peach stone fruit aromas give way to juicy green apple and herbs, making for an extremely complex Albariño profile. On the palate, the super bright green herbaceous flavors are matched only by a firm, extremely dry palate that shows off the granitic soil and even a tiny bit of tannic, mineral structure. Lemon verbena flavors blend with a cooling, fresh mineral water mouthfeel ending in a very long finish.