£12.50–£13.50, The Grape & The Good, Cheers Wine Merchants, Guest Wines, Shaftesbury Wines, Talking Wines
You can almost feel the breeze from the Atlantic on your face when you drink this succulent, energising example of Galicia's Albariño grape. You can certainly taste (or at least I can) rich and tangy lemon-curd, salty preserved lemons, juicy ripe peach and briny oyster shell.
It's produced by Terra de Asorei, an association of six growers who've pooled Albariño resources and expertise, including a total of 60ha of vineyards up to 80 years old, in the Val do Salnés, the granitic sub-region of Rías Baixas known as the birthplace of the variety.
Albariño is such a dream with shellfish and most other seafood (less good with oily fish such as mackerel) that it can be hard to think beyond crab, prawns, mussels, fishcakes and the like, but it's a good partner for spring and summer vegetables and salads and for summery lunches generally. It can also cope with a smidgen of spicy heat, but not too much (I tried it with a Louisiana shrimp boil, among other things, and that was too hot). 12.5%
Pazo Torrado Albariño 2020, Rías Baixas - Val do Salnés, Galicia, Spain
£12.50, The Grape & The Good; £12.95, Cheers Wine Merchants; £12.95, Guest Wines; £13, Shaftesbury Wines; £13.50, Talking Wines
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