Forjas del Salnes - Leirana Albarino Rias Baixas 2022 (1.5L)

Pale, green-tinged yellow. Bright and sharply focused on the nose, displaying incisive Meyer lemon, honeysuckle, quinine and mineral scents, along with a hint of ginger in the background. Dry, taut and light on its feet, offering intense, mineral-laced citrus and orchard fruit flavors that show no excess weight. Closes on a spicy note, displaying strong, floral-tinged persistence.

The salinity of Leirana makes it a natural pair for scallops, oysters and shellfish of all kinds, as well as the classic octopus dish, pulpo gallego.

This humble garage winery collaboration, Forjas del Salnes, came to life in 2005 when vineyard owner and winemaker Rodrigo Mendez began to revitalize a little piece of Galician history that was quickly fading.

Red wine in Rías Baixas was the way of the land back in the early 1900s. In the 1970s, when surrounding farmers were uprooting their less productive, less desirable red grapes in favor of planting increasingly popular Albariño grapes, the Mendez family was planting them. It all began in the early 2000s when Rodri's mission became clear: to execute his grandfather’s lifelong dream of grafting and replanting the nearly extinct, ancient coastal red vineyards in Val do Salnes and revive the nearly forgotten wines of his family’s history.

Rodri is intent on pursuing this shift in the Galician trend. With his winemaking and vineyard knowledge and skill rooted in the past, Rodri remains conscious of the present while having a vision for the future, and is producing some of Spain’s finest Albariños and rare Galician reds.

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. 40,000 bottles. There are two lots of this wine; the first one was bottled in April 2023.

Medium yellow to the eye, this wine has a bouquet of lemon curd, cocoa butter and rose petal. A soft floral note permeates the palate alongside peach, apricot, lemon, butterscotch and slivered almond flavors.