2023 Forjas del Salnés "Leirana" Albariño, Rías Baixas, Spain
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ABOUT THIS WINE
This is a wine of power, elegance and salinity that can truly stand among the best white wines of the world. Leirana Albariño is a small family winery located in Salnés (Pontevedra). One of the collaborators is the illustrious oenologist Raúl Pérez from Bierzo, one of the most authoritative voices on the Spanish wine scene. Leirana Albariño is 100% produced from the variety Albariño. The grapes originate from a 4 hectares of old, 40-70 year old vines, planted in sandy granite soils. For this traditional production, the wine is fermented in stainless steel tanks. Aged in 80% stainless, 20% neutral foudre. No malolactic fermentation. Once finalised the wine rests on its lees. The salinity of Leirana makes it a natural pair for scallops, oysters and shellfish of all kinds, as well as the classic octopus dish, pulpo gallego.
ABOUT THIS PRODUCER
Rodrigo Mendez is a 5th generation winemaker from the tiny fishing village of Meaño in Salnes, the most coastal of the subzones of Rías Baixas. Descended from the founding head of the DO of Rías Baixas, he is an astute historian of the history and heritage of this place, and makes wines to express and preserve this history and unique maritime terroir. He sources the parcels he farms through generational familial relationships, from families for whom winemaking is no longer their way of life. Indeed, his preservation of these historic vineyards is a vocation as much as it is a passion project – he feels compelled and bound to farm these parcels, because otherwise, they would no longer exist. He makes wine in a way that harkens back to lost methods – painstaking work that eschews the Albariño-as-soft drink style that’s become the mainstream. Rather than allowing the wine to go through malolactic fermentation, Rodri allows his fruit to hang longer than his neighbors in the appellation, allowing the natural weight and viscosity of the wine to balance the searing acidity that this maritime zone produces. The end result is a wine of the sea and of the wind – unmistakably Salnes.