2021 Bodegas Albamar Mencía ‘O Esteiro’

100% Mencía from a few parcels, some younger and some up to 100 years old. Spontaneous fermentation in used barrels, where the wine is aged for a year. Unfined and unfiltered with minimal sulfur. Fewer than 1500 bottles were made!

Xurxo Albas winery is in Cambados, next door to his parents’ restaurant 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.

91 points, James Suckling. "A floral mencia with pomegranate and cranberries. Supple tannins with crunchy red-berry character and a clean and forward finish. Drink now."