2022 Albarino Zarate, Zarate

A wonderfully elegant and refreshing Albarino straight from the wild coasts of Galicia by the hand of the expert Eulogio Pomares.  This has a beautiful minerality with vibrant citrus, creamy peach and apricot and a tingling almost salty finish.  Perfect for lovers of Sancerre and Chablis and a great match for seafood.

This small but brilliantly run cellar in Rías Baixas was established in 1920, Ernesto Zárate was pivotal in promoting Albariño in the area. In 1954 Ernesto joined together with three friends to found the Cambados Albariño Festival, which now attracts hundreds of people to the area every year. Current winemaker Eulogio Pomares (Ernesto's grandson), studied in Bordeaux and Germany investigating parallels between Albariño and Riesling, his knowledge of the Albariño grape is second to none. Since he took over management of his family vineyards in 2000, he has focused on improving them. He started to work organically, abandoning mineral fertilisers. Instead he uses shells from the surrounding coastline which provide the calcium and magnesium the vines need, and don’t get from the acidic soils. He also uses local seaweed as compost. In the cellar he is low intervention and his wines are characterised by their Atlantic freshness and age-worthiness.