A Tasting of Four Albarinos, Late 2024 Releases
Albariños often don’t get the love they deserve. These typically Spanish whites offer a delicious and usually more affordable alternative to the more popular white wines. Albariños are typically bright, fruity, dry, and acidic, allowing them to pair well with a great range of different foods. Today we are trying four albariños shared with us by producers Ole & Obrigado, including a sparkling variety and one from Portugal. Let’s take a look at each.
NV Mar de Frades Brut Nature – This is an exciting bottle: the first sparkling wine made in the traditional sparkling winemethod using 100% albariño. The grapes are drawn from the region in Spain best known for albariño, Rías Baixas, and, like Champagne, secondary fermentation takes place in the bottle. Poured in a glass, the wine produces ample small bubbles and aromas of lemon, yeast, and cotton candy grapes. The palate presents fresh lemon juice, granny smith apples, and Pez candy. Delightfully, the dryness of this Brut Nature appears in the mouthfeel, but not the palate, where the fruitiness of the wine hides it. The wine’s high acidity promises it will pair beautifully with a range of foods, and the long finish closes the deal. This is worth trying, particularly with food. A- / $35
2022 Leirana Albariño – I really enjoyed this crisp, tart wine from Rías Baixas, which presents well integrated notes of candied lemon, grapefruit, kiwi, and minerality. The wine offers medium acidity, a viscous mouthfeel, and a long finish. Lots to love. It is balanced and will pair well with food but also is perfectly enjoyable on its own. This albariño is a bit more expensive, but the quality is apparent and warrants the extra cost. A- / $30
2022 Lagar de Pintos Albariño – It is a pleasure trying several albariños together, since it highlights how different they can be from one another. This enjoyable wine from Rías Baixas presents a complex nose of musk melon, lime, and golden delicious apple. The palate follows suit but is much tarter as the apple notes turn to granny smith. Minerality also appears on the palate, providing complexity. There’s good acidity here and a medium length finish. Altogether, a well balanced and nuanced wine. B+ / $35
2022 Nortico Alvarinho – This enjoyable and affordable wine is made in Monção and Melgaço, Portugal’s top region for alvarinho, the Portuguese spelling of the varietal. It offers notes of cantaloupe, lime, honey, and lychee. The individual notes are quite lovely, but they don’t come together quite as well as I would like. Midpalate, the wine introduces some flinty minerality, and the wine shows low to medium acidity, making it a good, gentle sipper that can be easily enjoyed on its own. B / $15
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