100% Albariño

Food pairings: An excellent aperitif. Mild white fish, plain boiled or grilled seafood, sushi and vegetables; fresh goat cheeses.

Winemaking: The 2024 had 2 hours of skin contact and fermented for 21 days in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks at 14–17°C. It was bottled in March 2025.

Vineyards and terroir: The grapes come mainly from the Val do Salnés subzone of Rías Baixas. The 2024 year was about 30% wetter than the historical average, with a very rainy start, an average summer and rainfall up by half during ripening; temperatures ran 0.6°C above average, with a warm start and end to the year and an average growing season.

Family and history: In 2012 the fifth generation of Familia Torres began its Rías Baixas project with its first Albariño, Pazo das Bruxas. The name pays homage to Galician folklore: the bruxas, or witches, were said to dance and cast spells in the woods around the old manor houses (pazos), sending the sap rising through the vines. The family's Torre Penelas winery in Meaño, in the Salnés Valley, began working with the 2022 harvest and is where Pazo das Bruxas is made; nearby stands Pazo Torre Penelas, a 14th- or 15th-century manor house listed as a heritage site, with its hórreo, dovecote and chapel. Víctor Cortizo leads the winemaking.

In the pictures: Pergola-trained Albariño vines; vines in the Salnés Valley at dusk; and the Pazo Torre Penelas manor house. Photographs courtesy of Familia Torres; manor-house photograph by Sara Matthews Photography.