Condes de Albarei 2024

Adega Condes de Albarei produces this Albariño in D.O. Rías Baixas, in the Salnés Valley of coastal Galicia, from a winery established in 1988 by a group of local growers and now working over 170 hectares. The fruit comes from Albariño vines of more than twenty years, planted on shallow, grainy, sandy soils close to the sea. Rías Baixas is one of Europe's cooler, wetter white wine regions, and this maritime setting is central to the wine, the Atlantic keeping temperatures low and the growing season long, which preserves Albariño's high natural acidity and gives it a distinct saline character, while the sandy, free-draining soils resist the damp and concentrate the fruit. The wine is vinified fresh and young without oak, holding its aromatic lift and cut. The colour is bright straw with greenish highlights. The nose is fresh and lifted, green apple and lemon over white peach and white flowers. The palate is crisp and precise, with citrus peel and a briny, coastal minerality carried on brisk acidity to a clean, saline finish. At 12.5% it stays fresh and low in alcohol. Serve well chilled at 8 to 10 degrees.