2024 Lagar de Pintos Albariño, Rías Baixas, Spain
There are 127 units left in stock.
ABOUT THE WINE
The 2024 Lagar de Pintos is 100% Albariño from seven estate parcels—Palomar, Cachada, Muiño, Ponte Arnelas, Aguieiros, Pontella, and Albar—around Ribadumia near the mouth of the Umia River in the Val do Salnés subzone of Rías Baixas. The pergola-trained vines average approximately 40 years old and sit just 2–7 meters above sea level on the region’s characteristic granitic and sandy soils. This low-lying, strongly maritime environment helps give the wine its combination of ripe fruit, brisk acidity, and Atlantic salinity.
Harvesting is done by hand in small boxes, with each parcel picked and vinified separately. After gentle pressing and light settling, the must undergoes spontaneous fermentation. The wine then spends eight months on its lees in stainless-steel tanks and foudre, with weekly bâtonnage, before the individual lots are assembled, clarified, stabilized, bottled, and rested. This extended lees work is key to the wine’s character, adding volume and savory texture without obscuring Albariño’s natural freshness. The 2024 comes in at 13% alcohol, with production totaling 32,850 bottles.
While delicious young for its citrus and stone-fruit energy, the combination of acidity, lees-derived texture, and concentration gives it the potential to develop additional complexity over several years. Pair it with oysters, clams, mussels, grilled octopus, scallops, simply prepared fish, ceviche, sushi, or classic Galician seafood.
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Lagar de Pintos is a small family estate in Ribadumia, Val do Salnés, with four generations of family history on the property. The traditional Galician pazo was originally an agricultural farmstead, and the family’s grandfather began planting vines there in the 1950s. Pepe Pintos subsequently modernized the estate during the revival of Albariño and Rías Baixas in the 1980s. Today, the winery is led by sisters Marta and Carmen Castro-Pintos, who continue the family’s focus on Albariño and the distinctive terroirs of the Salnés Valley.
The vineyards are central to the estate’s philosophy, with an emphasis on older vines, individual parcels, environmental responsibility, and minimal manipulation in the cellar. Lagar de Pintos works with both estate fruit and trusted local growers while pursuing sustainable viticulture, and its winemaking favors indigenous fermentation, extended lees aging, and restrained élevage to preserve the grape’s natural personality.
The 2024 Lagar de Pintos Albariño is an excellent introduction to that philosophy: unmistakably fresh and maritime, yet more substantial and textural than a simple young Albariño, showing how old vines, granite and sand, lees aging, and the cool Atlantic climate can give Val do Salnés Albariño both immediate pleasure and genuine depth.