5 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Irish Independent
Try these fresh coastal wines with brisk Atlantic influence
Others are particularly fresh with pithy grapefruit notes and a distinctively briny salinity.
That salinity will not surprise anyone who has visited north-west Spain's Galicia, where the wine region of Rias Baixas hugs a coastline made up of multiple rias (inlets) and the peninsulas that divide them. If the Atlantic seems to be everywhere you look, that's because it is.
Albarino is the queen of grapes in Rias Baixas, making up 95pc of all vine plantings here. Its styles vary considerably, largely depending on which of five sub-regions it was grown in.
If I was to blind taste the two styles described above, I would guess that the riper wine might come from one of the warmer inland sub-regions, and that the saline one comes from the Val do Salnes subregion, where many vineyards sit right on or within view of the sea-swept coastline itself.
Besides that proximity to the coast keeping temperatures milder than further inland, the salty winds and rain also elevate levels of chloride, potassium, sodium and other salts both in the soils and the plants growing in them, and make their way into the resulting wines to such a degree that you can taste them.
Rias Baixas is not the only wine region with an Atlantic influence. If you walk the 'northern way' of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route running along the Basque coastline of 'Green Spain', you will pass vineyards hugging the coastal hills here — that is, if you can see them behind the low-hanging clouds that sweep in off the ocean and slow the ripening of those grapes.
With any luck, you'll also taste the resulting txacoli wine in local pintxos (tapas) bars, where its low alcohol, high acidity and very dry style is a perfect palate-cleansing quaffer for sampling myriad food flavours on a pintxos crawl.
Follow that coastline up into France or down into Portugal and you will find other Atlantic-influenced wine regions. Western France has Muscadet de Sevre et Maine in the north, where the Loire river meets the Atlantic, and Cotes de Gascogne further south. Portugal has Vinho Verde and Barraida along its western coast, plus various vineyards around Lisbon.
All of today's refreshing wine suggestions express that Atlantic influence, including a red from north of Lisbon.
Ophalum Albarino 2023, Rias Baixas DO, Spain, 12.5pc, €19.95
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From the co-op run Paco & Lola winery, this charming Val de Salnes Albarino has ample fruit and briny vibrancy, with lychee, white peach and almond milk aromas and fleshy fruit cut by fresh acidity from pithy mid-palate to saline finish. Or for other Val de Salnes examples, O'Brien's mineral Lagar de Costa Albarino is currently on promotion (€17.56), or try Mar de Frades Albarino Atlantico (€22, widely available) in its cool blue bottle, or Lidl's Salnoval Albarino (€11.99). O'Briens Wine;
Coing St-Fiacre Chardonnay 'Aurore', St-Fiacre sur Maine, Loire, 12pc, €19.50
Imagine Chablis-style unoaked Chardonnay transported to the westerly end of Loire Valley where the rivers Sevre and Maine meet, grown in schist soils and picked at low yields. The result is this vibrant beauty with lemon drop notes, mineral salinity and fleshy silky texture. Independent retailers,
Domaine Tariquet 'Classic', Cotes de Gascogne IGP, France, 10.5pc, €14.95
A delightful low-alcohol blend of local Ugni Blanc, Colombard and Gros Manseng with Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Chenin, produced in Gascony between the Atlantic and the Pyrenees, this would be as perfect for a seafood picnic as for an aperitif with fresh oysters. Great value too. Independent retailers including Sweeney's D3,
Gaintza Roses 2023, Getariako Txakolina, Basque Country, 11.5pc, €26
A super dry, salty, crunchy and slightly effervescent rosé txakoli made from red Hondarrabi Beltz and white Hondarrabi Zuri grapes in Getaria fishing village near San Sebastian, this is an ideal match for Getaria's delicacy of Cantabrian anchovies, or any well-handled oily fish. Quintessential Wines, Drogheda
Adegamae 'Salino' Tinto 2022, Lisbon, Portugal, 13pc, €17
It's not just whites that can benefit from a coastal influence. This red Castelao-Aragonez blend, made on the Atlantic coast north of Lisbon by two of Portugal's finest winemakers, Anselmo Mendes and Diogo Lopes, drinks fresh and bright with balsamic cherry and rose petal notes. Independent retailers including Pinto Wines;
