100% Albariño

Food pairings: Clams in marinera sauce, grilled sea bream, shellfish, white fish, white meats and soft cheeses.

Scores:

• 97 points, Decanter (World Wine Awards)

Winemaking: The grapes were picked by hand into small boxes and sorted cluster by cluster on a selection table. They were cold-macerated at 10°C for 6 hours, then gently pressed. The must was clarified in stainless steel tanks and fermented at a controlled 17°C for fifteen days. The wine was cross-flow filtered, bottled under an inert atmosphere and rested in bottle for a month before release.

Vineyards and terroir: Valmiñor's Albariño vines grow in the O Rosal subzone, between the Miño River and the Atlantic, on slopes of up to 20% with acidic soils of stones and metamorphic schist. The vines are 20 to 40 years old and trained on traditional pergolas and on trellises, with yields limited to 8,000 kg per hectare and a natural cover of native plants such as ryegrass and white clover between the rows. Harvest takes place in mid-September.

Family and history: Adegas Valmiñor was founded in 1997 by Carlos Gómez Davila in O Rosal, the southern subzone of Rías Baixas where the Miño River meets the Atlantic, and its current winery opened in 2001. The family group also includes Ébano in Ribera del Duero.

In the pictures: The Adegas Valmiñor winery among its vines (photo: D.O. Rías Baixas); and Valmiñor vineyards in O Rosal (photo: Vinoselección).