Case of Albamar Albariño 2025 | $46.00 per bottle

$46.00 per bottle | $552.00 case of 12

Grape Variety: 100% Albariño
Region: Val do Salnés, D.O. Rías Baixas, Galicia, Spain
Producer: Bodegas Albamar (Xurxo Alba)
Aging: About 8 months on fine lees, mostly in stainless steel with a share in large neutral oak foudres

The Origin: Albamar's core Albariño — the house blend, not one of Xurxo Alba's single-vineyard bottlings. Xurxo's family has farmed Albariño in the Salnés Valley for generations, alongside their restaurant and grocer's shop in Cambados; he started bottling commercially in 2006 after studying oenology. The fruit comes from around 60 small parcels, worked by some 20 local growers in and around Castrelo, mostly on sandy granite soils close to the Atlantic — some sit less than 100 metres from the Umia River delta where it meets the Ría de Arousa.

The Profile: Straw-yellow, with citrus peel, golden apple and a whisper of white flowers over iodine and sea-spray notes. The palate is tense and saline rather than tropical: bright acidity, a light creaminess from the lees, and a long, salty finish. (Previous vintages: the 2024 earned 93 points from Wine Advocate, James Suckling and Tim Atkin MW, and 91 from Vinous. Wine Advocate rated the 2023 93+ and named it one of the finest vintages, if not the finest, of this bottling.)

The Craft: Hand-harvested, pressed and settled, then fermented spontaneously with indigenous yeasts. Malolactic fermentation is blocked to keep the acidity bright, and the wine rests on its fine lees for texture rather than oak flavour. Recent vintages have run to roughly 80,000–95,000 bottles.

The Pairing: Serve at 8–10°C with oysters, steamed mussels or clams, grilled white fish, seafood rice or a Galician fish stew — or roasted artichoke leaves in a creamy béchamel. Drinking well now and should hold very well until 2029.