From the steep slopes of Ribeira Sacra in the interior of Galicia comes this charming white wine. These canyons are some of the most dramatic you can think of.
Amandi, one of the five subzones of DO Ribeira Sacra, is essencially a small canyon by the river Sil. It has schist and slate-rich soils, vines planted on “solcacos”, small terraces and an extreme Atlantic climate.
Fernando González and Ana Pérez run 11ha of old vines in Amandi. And so they have done for more than 30 years, but it was only in 1998 that they started to bottle their own wines.
I have tasted the wines of Algueira at a few occasions, and I like their reds and whites, all from autoctonous grapes. This one is from godello, hand-picked, spontaneously fermented, and treated in inox tanks.
Light yellow with some green. Stony, perfumed aroma, citric notes, some herbs. Full in the mouth, with yellow fruits and good level of acidity.
It’s been a week with some really good white wines. When I chose a Spanish one it may come as a surprise that it is from Bierzo, otherwise known for full and quite heavy reds. But remember, this is a border region between Castilla and Galicia. This wine is from the western part, where you find a slightly more Atlantic climate than in central Bierzo.
Grégory Pérez and his project Mengoba has been presented in this coloumn before, with an inspiring red. This white is made basically from godello grapes, and with some doña blanca from really old vines. The doña blanca is a thick-skinned grape that are known to bring some bitterness to the wines. That could maybe be the main reason for the grapefruit character.
Light pressing, fermentation at low temperatures aged on fine lee for 5 months with weekly batonnage, and with a very light clarification and filtration.
Pale, hay-coloured. Potent aroma predominantly of grapefruit, but also with mature yellow apples. Full on the palate, good acidity, quite concentrated with a lengthy aftertaste.