Tasting Note: Complex, expressive Albariño, the seafood-loving white grape of Galicia in northern Spain; this is full of white fruit, with a faint aroma of toast and beautiful eucalyptus notes. The time on lees lends an elegant and fine mousse with soem autolytic character on the finish
Food Matching: Ideal as an aperitif or with starters like smoked salmon, scallops or oysters.
The label has a thermosensitive logo so that when the wine is chilled at the right serving temperature, a small boat appears and disappears when it is too warm for consumption
Vineyard: Mar de Frades lies in the heartland of Rias Baixas, Salnes. This is the truest expression of the terrior, nestled upon the Galician coast where the seawater washes up on the shore finds its way through the breeze onto the skins of Albarino grapes giving its notorious salinity.
Paula Fandino is one of Galicias gifts and crafts incredible wines from these vines that they try and maintain with zero sulfur additions. Due to the very marginal climate (where many of the world's greatestwines are created) this is not always possible, but it is certainly at the centre of the wineries ethos in the vineyard.
Rias Baixas has a very unique trellising system called a Parra which is supported by the iconic granite posts you can see in the region. This ensures the grapes get as much sun exposure as possible and limits the damage caused by pest and disease.
Vinification: Like the Mar de Frades Godello, this was the first of its kind. The idea to create a sparkling wine that is fresh, aromatic and has the same signatiure salinity as its still wine counterparts.
As you would expect, grapes are hand harvested and meticulously sorted.
Only the forst 40% of free run juice was used and fermented spontaneously.
The base wine is then bottled and aged on its lees just long enough to give it some welcome autolytic character and creaminess, but without overpowering the primary fruit character and signature salinity.
