Celebrated as an epitome of excellence, the Fillaboa Rias Baixas Albarino 2020 is a remarkable embodiment of Spanish viticulture originating from the prestigious Rias Baixas region in Galicia. This distinct single-varietal Albarino was meticulously curated by Fillaboa, a revered estate known for its commitment to maintaining indigenous varieties and implementing sustainable practices in their vineyards.

The wine was produced through careful vinification in stainless steel tanks to extract maximum esseence from the low-yielding, hand-harvested grapes all while maintaining utmost integrity of the Albarino character. The result is a strikingly splendid wine with expressive aromatic profiles of citrus, stone fruits, and subtle floral hints.

Upon tasting, the Fillaboa Rias Baixas Albarino 2020 reveals a harmonious balance of minerality and vibrancy, ending with a lingering finish. This wine's elegance and flavour complexity make it an impeccable pair to seafood and shellfish. An experience in a bottle that is truly unforgettable.

James Suckling (96)

Decadent and rich with mango, papaya, citrus, and mineral. Slate too. Full-bodied, dry and fruity. It really shows great length and complexity. First vintage of this single vineyard wine from the best parcel of the Schonenberg. Contrasty. Drink now.

Wine Advocate (98)

The 2015 Grand Cru Schoenenbourg opens clear, intense, precise and floral on the nose, with concentrated lemon confit and smoky gypsum flavors. This 2015 is really concentrated on the nose and displays a gorgeously fresh and vegetal greeniness. Sweet, finessed and lush on the creamy textured palate, this is a very precise and concentrated Schonenbourg with a very long, intense and seductive finish. There is great elegance, finesse and complexity here. Very salty. This is a great long-distance runner.

Pazo Senorans Rias Baixas Albarino Seleccion Anada 2012 is the latest released vintage of the wonderful white, and we can rest assured that it is a wine of immense personality. Awarded 98 points from the Peñin Guide, the leading wine magazine in Spain, this sings with fascinating notes of “white fruit, citrus fruit, fine lees, petrol”. It possesses a richly flavourful and elegant palate ending with a lengthy finish.

Wine Advocate (98)

The single-vineyard Sorte O Soro had not been produced since 2016, and the 2019 Sorte O Soro is the next vintage after that. This plot has always shown additional elegance, freshness and salinity since he started vinifying it in 2004, because of the altitude (710 meters above sea level) and the north exposure to the Bibei Valley, where the old clone is planted on fine granite sand and quartz soils. Like As Sortes, this Sorte also fermented and matured with lees in new 500-liter French oak barrels for eight months. It has 14% alcohol with a pH of 3.12 and higher acidity (at 7.5 grams) than the rest of the 2019s. It feels very harmonious, elegant and nuanced with some creaminess, with notes of wet pollen and yellow flowers. The palate reflects the soil, with vibrant granite and very fine sand and electric quartz (saline), and it's also round and powerful from the clone that is planted in the vineyard. This vineyard is in the process of being organically and biodynamically certified. 2,240 bottles were filled in September 2020. I tasted the 2019s and 2020s from Rafa Palacios in Valdeorras. For him, these are two very good years. 2019 had a mild and dry winter and a rainy and cold spring that delayed budding, followed by a mild summer with fewer hours of sunshine, which meant a delay in the ripening process. Harvest was more than one month later than usual, and the grapes achieved very slow ripening and full development of aromas and flavors while keeping the acidity. The harvest started in October and finished in November. It's a beautiful, homogeneous vintage with very good wines. 2020 saw a moderately cool and rainy winter and a dry and cold spring that resulted in 20% less bunches than in 2019. The summer was also quite dry but, fortunately, not too hot. Given the low yields, maturation was accelerated, and the harvest began at the beginning of September for Louro and from September 25th for As Sortes. Given the scarce water, the plants had to work harder deep down into the soil, which marked the wines; the silica and quartz from the sandy soils of O Bolo shaped a saline identity and the wines achieved a lot of elegance and balance. It's a more heterogeneous vintage, and the higher-altitude vineyards behaved better. The 2020 O Soro is out of this world. He gave me a quick preview of the very cold 2021, a vin de garde vintage but a challenging year with a lot of rain. They are in the process of certifying their vineyards (organic and biodynamic), but they have some problems in the vineyards with neighbors who are not organic, so it will probably be faster for O Soro and Sorte Antiga.

Decanter (98)

Sampled from a vat, this is one of the best As Sortes I have ever tasted, comparable to the iconic 2011. It's a prodigy of subtleness and elegance. Everything is firmly delicate in this wine. Restrained aromas open up parsimoniously, with a steely structure like a great Burgundy, but with flinty acidity almost like Grosses Gewächs from Rheingau. Despite the fact that the sample was not yet bottled, the wine had no oak influence, just the indication that it had been aged, as top Godello must. Rafael Palacios is refining his work year after year, reaching the magic of the greatest wines. A top wine, and one to keep.

Wine Advocate (95)

The 2015 O Diviso felt closed, more reticent, and seems more powerful, despite the fact they did a nonextractive vinification; they did nothing and let the wine ferment at its own pace. This matured in one 600-liter oak barrel, and this is the only red that has a slight note from the oak. There is also a relevant amount of Garnacha Tintorera, so the combination of a warm year, the small barrel and the varietal mix resulted in a more austere and backward wine that is going to require more time in bottle. The fruit is darker and the wine is more powerful than the 2014. It might evolve with time in bottle, because it certainly has the stuffing to do so, but today As Caborcas was singing, and I have to give it the edge. 895 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2016.

Vinous (97+)

Bright golden-tinged straw-yellow. Enticing nose of yellow apple, mirabelle, crystallized ginger and white flowers, complicated by lemony minerality. Dense, fresh and juicy, displaying outstanding sugar-acid balance and an opulent mouthfeel that is nicely lifted by penetrating notes of mirabelle, lime, wet stones, lemon peel and almond. While this enters sweet, it finishes very clean and dry. Boasts one of the most fragrant, prettiest and most forward noses I recall in a young CSH.

Vinous (98+)

Luminous straw. Penetrating nuances of lime and guava join the lemon verbena, jasmine, mineral and white stone fruit aromas on the knockout, captivating nose. Then dense, complex and multilayered, offering profound flavors of fresh citrus fruit, sweet spices and talcum powder. Closes extremely long, clean and precise; this is a young white wine of utterly mesmerizing beauty. I find this to be one of the best young CSHs I have ever tasted; it is stylistically different but almost on the same quality level as the marvelous 2010 CSH. One sniff (never mind taste) and I was left almost speechless - and I’m not usually one who keeps his mouth shut when I recognize a truly great wine.

James Suckling (97)

Breathtaking nose of tropical flowers and foliage after rain, with a whiff of smoke in the air. This has spectacular elegance and minerality for a wine of this stature (14.5% alcohol). I love the fresh-ginger note that already suggests the kind of dishes that would pair beautifully with this masterpiece of restrained extravagance. Only a hint of sweetness at the ravishing finish. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold.

James Suckling (97)

If you’ve never tasted a great Alsace pinot gris, here is the place to start! All the richness and creaminess we expect from this category, but married to lively acidity and pristine clarity. We love the super ripe pear bouquet with hints of exotic fruit and flowers. No perceptible tannins and still dry enough at the delicately spicy and mineral finish to be food-flexible. Drink or hold.

James Suckling (95)

This self-confidently atypical pinot gris has astonishing acidity that’s got the intensity of a lightning strike. Tons of pineapple and toast character, but also gigantic, lemony freshness at the exceptionally bright finish. May be too extreme for some, but we find this amazing. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold.

Vinous (96)

One of the standouts in this range, the 2018 Riesling Clos Windsbuhl is incredibly vivid in the glass. Time in the glass brings out myriad layers of flavor and dimension. Orange confit, crushed rocks, mint and more exotic notes all meld together in an airy, weightless wine that has so much to offer. The 2018 is at once intense but also carries itself with a real sense of grace.

James Suckling (97)

A unique dry riesling with an astonishing combination of mini banana, mirabelle, baking spice and sea salt. Super concentrated and super elegant, this has a level of poise that’s very rare in the 2018 vintage. I love the way the silky finish caresses the palate. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold.

James Suckling (99)

So smoky, with intense gunpowder character, but also notes of forest mushrooms and jack fruit. This is not only very concentrated, but also has an amazingly sensual mouth-feel that sets out in the wide field of exciting dry Alsace rieslings from the 2020 vintage. Expands and expands as it flows over your palate until it blows your mind at the unbelievably long, smoky finish. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold.