Sense of Place: O Rosal, Rías Baixas, Galicia, Spain
Alberto Cábaco Mariño grew up in Gondomar, where his grandfather owned a wine warehouse. After making his fortune in Galicia's fishing industry, Alberto moved back there and in 2017 embarked on an ambitious journey to establish a wine estate there. In 2018, he enlisted the help of Baiona-born ex-sommelier Jorge Marcote to help him build the dream, called Bodegas Pentecostés.
I travelled to Galicia in June 2024 and spent a morning with Jorge. We visited Pazo Barreiro and Pazo de Moldes, old country estates that trace their roots back to the 17th and 18th century respectively. What they weren't, or not until Alberto and Jorge showed up, were vineyards primed to set a new benchmark for Rías Baixas wines.
This video aims to give you insight into the specific wine-growing traditions and conditions of the O Rosal sub-region, while also giving an idea of what it takes to break the mould and redefine what can be achieved with the right level of investment, know-how and tenacity.
Sense of Place extra: The Parra gallega vine training system of Rías Baixas
The rain in Spain falls mostly on... Galicia. And that’s part of the reason why grapegrowers employ the parra gallega - the local riff on pergola-trained vines that makes use of the region’s abundant granite - in their lush Albariño vineyards.
I recently caught up with my friend Diego Ríos, the Chile-born winemaker at the helm at Bodegas Granbazán, at the iconic Finca Tremoedo just outside Cambados in the Val do Salnés subregion of Rías Baixas. In this short video, he explains the whys and wherefores of this system of canopy management.
Sense of Place: Val do Salnés, Rías Baixas, Galicia, Spain
Rías Baixas has done an incredibly good job of portraying its lush vineyards and granite soils as ground zero for singular, refreshing Spanish white wines of place. It's been helped a lot in this regard by the fact that its pin-up grape, Albariño, is a charmingly vivacious variety with an ability to transmit these soils in pure wines of salty minerality and electric acidity.
Diego Ríos, recently crowned Rías Baixas Young Winemaker of the Year in Tim Atkin MW's latest report, calls the shots at the prestigious Granbazán estate, just outside the gorgeous fishing town of Cambados on the Galician coast. It was a pleasure to catch up with Diego during my recent trip to Galicia. Here, he shares his thoughts on what makes Albariño, Rías Baixas and, specifically, the Val do Salnés subregion so special.