03/04/2017 – Salneval Rias Baixas Barrica

(2017) What a delicious take on Rias Baixas this is, with the unusual hint of oak from barrel ageing giving a sweet, rounding infill of cream and vanilla - not too much - to the racy, seaside-fresh fruit of classic Albariño. Broader in texture too, there's a nutty apple dryness and lick of salt and lemon pith in the juicy acidity of the finish. Undoubtedly a star of this special collection for me.

10 comments

  1. Hi Tom, have just seen this reduced in our local Lidl, down from £8-00 to £4-00, so I grabbed the last six bottles, as I love dry whites from Galicia, although don’t see too
    many Godello’s around here, mainly Albarino. Wasn’t until I got home I noticed the oak content. Haven’t tried it yet, as I prefer my whites crisp and very dry, (more sauvignon
    than chardonnay. Not sure I would have brought them if I’d realised, tell me I’m going to enjoy them please!

    1. Steve, good for you! A couple of things to clear up: if you bought the Salvenal Rias Baixas Barrica that I recommended, it is indeed Albarino, not Godello. And although the barrel-fermented character is a bit of a shock in an Albarino, I thought it worked really well – do let me know how you find it 🙂

      1. Hi Tom, thanks for getting back to me. I didn’t word that very well, I knew I had Albarino, I was just attempting to make the point that generally speaking, there’s not much choice, certainly in the south east, to find Godello, (in fact there’s not a great choice of Spanish wines generally, compared to France, Italy, Chile, Australia etc.) Finally, if any of your members can get down to a Lidl from time to time, they do seem to,
        periodically, put various bottles into a bargain bin at £4-00 a time. Often, it might just be a pound off a £5 wine, but occasionally one can pick up some real bargains. I watched with interest the wines they had at our local store included in that Easter promotion, and could see over a week or so, that they weren’t actually flying off the shelves.

        1. Ah, sorry for my misunderstanding Steve. It’s funny, but Godello seemed to be popping up everywhere three or four years ago and seemed to be on the verge of being “the next big thing,” but you are right: I haven’t been aware of quite so many. And yes, I’ve been impressed by quite a few of the “special parcel” wines from Lidl recently too.

  2. Just bought a bottle with 20% off any 3

    I’m going back to buy 3 of these

    I’m no wine connoisseur but reminds me of a certain Chilean Erruzizuz barrel wild ferment Chardonnay – but lighter with more Lemon

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