Bodegas Albamar, Albarino Rias Baixas 2023

93+ points Wine Advocate
"The eponymous flagship village white 2023 Albamar comes from many different Albariño plots, owned and rented, on different soils but mostly granite. The juice from the pressing of the full clusters fermented and matured in stainless steel and oak foudres where it was kept with the lees for eight months. It has clarity, purity and transparency, which seems to define the 2023 vintage, and it is floral and perfumed but serious, with a vibrant palate. It is easy to drink, with moderate alcohol (12.5%), good freshness, a pH of 3.18 and 7.8 grams of acidity and finishes with a salty touch. It’s very tasty, one of the finest vintages—if not the finest—for this bottling, which has also grown in volume. 95,000 bottles were produced. It was bottled in April 2024."

Vinous Reverie Notes
Xurxo Alba (pron. SURE-sho, the Gallego version of ‘Jorge’) makes Albariño by the sea shore. There’s really not much more to say. It’s what he was born to do. It’s what he knows best. He is the personification of Albariño. His cellar is in Cambados, next door to his parents’ restaurant and tienda de ultramarinos, a small shop selling local artisanal foodstuffs. His family has been farming and making Albariño in the Salnés Valley of Rías Baixas for generations but it wasn’t until Xurxo finished his oenological studies that they started bottling and commercializing their own wines in 2006. They own about 2.5 hectares (currently planting 6 more) but source from about a total of 10 spread throughout this region dominated by smallholdings.