Fefiñanes Albariño, Rías Baixas, Galicia, Spain 2016 (£14.95, The Wine Society) Most examples of the Galician white grape variety albariño available in the UK are not bad at all. They do their slightly apricotty, fresh thing, matching very well with seafood or cleansing a tired post-work brain with minimal fuss. They’re a reliable under-a-tenner alternative to sauvignon blanc when the gooseberry greenness of that grape variety seems a bit too much. Fefiñanes has always been better than that, however, and the latest vintage (available this week) from the first producer to bottle the variety solo in the 1920s is simply superb. Pristine, fleshy ripe pear, apple and white peach, and a wave of salty freshness that can’t help but make you think of seaspray. One of Spain’s very best white wines.
Rafael Palacios Louro, Valdeorras, Galicia, Spain 2015 (£13.95, The Wine Society; Noel Young Wines; The Sampler) The success of albariño has meant that most wine merchants, including the supermarkets, have added another Galician white to their books, often based on the godello grape. Again, there’s a touch of meh with some of the cheaper bottles, although there’s a squeaky-clean citrussy squeeze and subtle floral lilt to Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Godello 2015 (£7.50). Once you’ve crested the £10 barrier, things become exponentially more interesting. Some of the best I’ve tried have been from Rafael Palacios, who works steep, terraced slopes in the Valdeorras district. His Louro is superbly spicy, ripe peach-fleshy and mouthfilling with a lemon and lime curd tang.
Tomàs Cuisiné Auzells, Costers del Segre, Spain 2015 (£9.95, The Wine Society; Just in Cases; The Fine Wine Company) If Galicia has had the most success in drawing overseas attention to Spain’s aromatic whites, there is plenty going on elsewhere. In Rueda, verdejo is explosively, pungently aromatic. Sometimes it’s a bit too pungent, but the intense grapefruit and guava of Ramón Bilbao Verdejo, Rueda 2016 (£10.95, Great Western Wine) is tempered with fluent acidity and would work well with mildly spicy, East Asian food. Further east, in Catalonia, a world-tour panoply of grape varieties, including chardonnay, sauvignon, riesling and local macabeu, combine in the superbly bright, herby, fragrant and tropically fruited Auzells.
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