Spain

97 Points! The 2021 Sesenta e Nove Arrobas is young, primary and sharp, incredibly intense and lively after spending some 20 months with the lees. There is a lot of energy here. It has notes of freshly cut grass, flowers and a faint smokey/leesy sensation. This is one of my favorite Albariños, and this vintage has a long life ahead of it in bottle. Amazing! - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

Xarel.lo, Macabeo & Parellada. The grapes are chilled to 10ºC and gently pressed to obtain only the freerun juice. Cold treatment is used to drain and clean the must with no added clarifying agents. The must from each variety is fermented separately at controlled temperatures of 15-17ºC during 15 days. Once the final blend from the base wines has been defined, the wine is bottled with the “liqueur de tirage”.

The second fermentation takes place in an underground cellar, followed by a period of ageing in contact with the lees.
The wine spends at least 11 months in the winery; enough time to acquire a correct balance of fruit (from the grapes), richness (from the lees) and a perfect integration of the bubbles (from cellaring).

The grapes from the 3 local varieties are selected from different vineyards and hand-harvested between 25th August
and 25th September. 25+ year old vines, located in the Penedés area. 100-400m above sea level. Clay and limestone soil.

93+ Points! The very recently bottled 2021 Terra de Cuques Blanc was produced with 90% Pedro Ximénez and 10% Muscat with a moderate 13% alcohol, the minimum required by the appellation. It's serious, with good freshness, a little reductive at first but then more expressive with abundant notes of pollen and a honeyed touch, with a little skin contact that gives it character and some notes of quince and fine tannins. There's finesse and elegance and it's very clean. They have food in mind when they do the wines, so there is a constant search for freshness. There is a good demand for whites, and they sell everything, but the planting of white vineyards is limited. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94 Points! Subtle green spice and cement to the squeezed lemon and grapefruit, with a hint of nori-like umami. Dry, creamy and sleek, with medium to full body and lovely texture to the neutral fruit, though not lacking in substance. Very contained. Drink now or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

From the importer: After a fateful tasting at Can Roca followed by the tasting menu, Dominik Huber became convinced that not enough attention was being paid to white wines in the Priorat. Out of the dozen courses he had, only about three were suited to red wines so when he got back to Torroja he set about creating two new wines at Terroir al Limit – Terra de Cuques and Pedra de Guix. Naturally when Dominik launched Terroir Històric in 2015, the white wasn’t going to be an afterthought and it in fact represents half of his production. A blend of Garnatxa Blanca and Macabeu, the Terroir Historic Blanc is pressed whole cluster, and ferments and ages for 6 months in a 5000L concrete tank. Nothing added, nothing taken away.

90 Points! A round and fresh garnacha blanca here with some subtle peaches, green apples and mineral characters. Fresh acidity brightens it up on the medium-bodied palate with a fruity finish. From organically grown grapes. Vegan. Drink now. - JamesSuckling.com

91+ Points! The 2022 Gaba do Xil O Barreiro is from their own vineyards, 15 to 16 hectares in Larouco on red granite soils from a transitional place between granite and slate. 2022 was a warm year, a rounder and gentler vintage, and the wine is a little riper at 13% alcohol. Godello behaves differently from the single vineyards and has a rounder mouthfeel. It also has a more reductive profile, fruit-driven and with notes of flowers and herbs. It was bottled unoaked after four months with lees. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

93 Points! The 2022 Louro still feels a little reductive and has pungent balsamic notes of bay leaf. It was a very warm year with constant heat and very healthy grapes. It keeps the freshness but still feels the roundness of the year. Most of the grapes were picked before the rain they had in September. It's tasty with a salty twist in the finish. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

95 Points! The 2022 As Sortes feels very young and a little raw and undeveloped, with great freshness. Despite being a very warm summer, they had rain (20+ liters) that was absorbed by the grapes, which made a delicate wine, much fresher than expected. Of course, the high altitude of the vines and the late ripeness and harvest here also have to do with the fresh character of the wine, which transcends the character of the year. I'd wait a little to pull the cork...He's one of the finest white wine producers in Galicia and in Spain. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

96 Points! The Listán Blanco 2021 Vidonia was produced with Listán Blanco grapes from centenary vines in Las Suertes, La Florida and La Mocana on clay soils in the Orotava. It fermented with indigenous yeasts in used 500-liter oak barrels and 2,500-liter oak foudres, where it matured for 11 months. It has 12.8% alcohol, a low pH of 3.03 and 6.54 grams of acidity. This is fresh, balanced and elegant, expressive, clean and open. The wine is volcanic but not reduced, with great finesse in the palate. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94 Points! The white 2021 Trenzado comes from eight different vineyards in the Orotava Valley, mostly from the village of Los Realejos where the basalt soils are quite shallow. It fermented in oak foudres of different sizes and 500-liter oak barrels, where it matured for 11 months. It has 12.9% alcohol with a low pH (3.04) and high acidity (6.35 grams) for the variety. The wine has settled in bottle, where it seems to gain weight. The year was a little cooler, and the wine is fresher. It has notes of toasted sesame seeds. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

93 Points! The young and tender 2022 Albariño is the blend of the grapes from 165 plots in the Salnés, fermented with a pied de cuve from the old vines, fermented in stainless steel and matured with lees. It has a balsamic nose with notes of grass and bay leaf, a round palate with pungent flavors and good acidity. It's clean and varietal, reflecting a warmer year. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

92+ Points! The 2020 Unculín Blanco is even better than the already impressive 2019. A blend of Godello and Doña Blanca, it is austere and reveals a light to medium-bodied palate with a moderate 12.2% alcohol and a low pH of 3.0 and 7.4 grams of acidity. The vines are in Valtuille on sand, clay and stone soils. After macerating with the skins for 24 hours, the grapes were pressed, and half of the juice was let to settle and the other half fermented with all the solids, the Doña Blanca in an oval oak foudre and the Godello in stainless steel, all with indigenous yeasts. It matured with the lees for five months. It's tasty, serious and dry—a white that can develop in bottle. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

From the importer: Barrialto Sobre Lías Santa Brigida, bottled from a single 500L butt, is a blend of two different albariza soil sub-types. Palomino grapes from Pago Balbaína Baja near Jerez (albariza tosca cerrada soils), with grapes from Pago Maína, near Sanlúcar, (albariza barajuelas soil). Rafa says that the tosca cerrada albrariza lends the blend balance and fitness, while the barrajuela albariza lends a dry minerality and herbal salinity. Each wine Rafa produces is a unique snapshot of a place, time, and soil type in his vineyards in the Jerez region. As a result, production of these authentic treasures is in the hundreds of bottles, and they are exceptionally limited, coming to the US market in tiny allocations.

Hand-harvested palomino grapes (from 40+ year-old vines) are de-stemmed and pressed, followed by spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts from the vineyard without temperature control in a 500L ex-Manzanilla cask. After fermentation, it rests for nine months on its fine lees with bâtonnage in the same barrels before being racked into a stainless steel tank to settle before bottling unfined, with only a light paper filtration and minimal additional sulfur used before bottling.

From Finca Aeiroá (1939) – O Barco de Valdeorras – Pure slate soils intermixed with broken quartz, northern orientation – three field blend parcels planted adjacent to each other, primarily Godello with intermixed planting of indigenous red varieties. Northern orientation.

92 Points! A nutty, full-bodied white with notes of salted almonds, baked apples, brown butter, praline and cloves. Buttery and tasty, with bright acidity too. Just the right amount of oak opulence. Drink now. - JamesSuckling.com

From the importer: What strikes many as an unusual blend is fairly common in Penedes – aromatic whites made from a mix of “northern” and indigenous varieties. In the case of Gessami, it is a blend of the native Muscat (both Frontignan 35%, and de Alexandria 15%, which are grown by Gramona) and the non-native but heat-tolerant Gewürztraminer 15%, and Sauvignon Blanc 35%. Over a third of the cuvée is Sauvignon Blanc, which provides a fresh herbal lift and vibrant acidity. To ensure a balanced wine, the grapes are picked just as they reach ripeness to ensure plenty of acidity to balance the 6g/L of residual sugar that is retained. Depending on the vintage, either one or both Muscat varieties are used in addition to a small proportion of Gewürztraminer to boost the aromatics. Such a floral and alluring wine is fittingly named Gessami, which in English means Jasmine.

93 Points! The gentler 2022 Leirana reflects a warmer year of rounder wines and slightly lower acidity. They are increasing the amount of oak, and eventually, this could end up being 100% in (used and large) foudres, but the wines don't show any oak. They blended all the wines before they are put in foudre, and they feel it results in better integration of the wine. This represents the Salnés region of Rías Baixas with the salty and tasty marine and granite twist. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com