Rías Baixas. Albariño from Spain's green Atlantic corner.

A green, Atlantic Spain

Rías Baixas takes its name from the rías, shallow inlets like small fjords running inland from the Atlantic. It is very un-Spanish: green, hilly and often wet. The region was isolated for centuries and only began exporting in the 1980s, so even many Spaniards knew little about it.

Life here traditionally meant small farms and self-sufficiency. Families kept animals, grew vegetables and made a little wine, often from vines trained on high pergolas so other crops could grow beneath. Granite hórreos, raised stone granaries, still stand beside many houses.

Albariño and granite

Albariño was once thought to be related to Riesling or Petit Manseng, but it is now regarded as native to the region. It copes well with rain, keeps its acidity and loves the area's sandy, decomposed granite soils. Granite is so abundant that it is used for the posts of the pergolas, which keep the grapes off damp ground and away from disease.

Tim Atkin MW and Christy Canterbury MW describe aromas of citrus, apple, pear, white flowers, peach and melon, sometimes with a slightly oily texture and a gently bitter finish. The film also shows how the estate uses pheromone confusion in the vineyard instead of insecticide.

Rain is the main challenge. Flowering in May often costs 20 to 30 percent of the crop, and damp conditions can bring mildew and botrytis. The sandy topsoil helps by drying out in summer and filtering heavy winter rain, while the leaves protect the bunches from both downpours and hot summer sun.

Pazo de Señorans and a pioneering woman

A pazo is a Galician manor house, and Pazo de Señorans, with parts dating back to the 16th century, is one of the region's rare large estates. A family of doctors bought it in 1979 and at first grew Albariño and kiwis. Then Marisol, the matriarch, was asked to lead the regulatory council for the new appellation, a role she held for 21 years.

She convinced cautious Galician farmers that care and quality were the only way forward. When Spain joined the EU, the appellation could no longer carry a grape name and became Rías Baixas. Her husband, a doctor, tells with obvious pride how he was inducted into a wine brotherhood that would not admit women, to represent her.

The estate has always had strong women at its core, unusual in Spain at the time, and the film points out that the region has a surprising number of female winemakers.

Aging on the lees

Many still think Albariño must be drunk within a year or two. Pazo de Señorans set out to prove otherwise. Working with stainless steel rather than oak, the family and their long-standing winemaker age the wines on their lees for extra texture and depth.

Their Selección de Añada, made since 1995 from a single four-hectare plot of old vines, spends at least 30 months on its lees before release. The film opens the cellar's library of older vintages; see for yourself how well this white wine ages.

The lees, the spent yeast that settles after fermentation, give richness, texture and balance, and in some vintages a toasty, cracker-like note. At the winery they jokingly compare the fresh lees to Chanel No. 5. As the family says, there is never a fixed recipe: the time on the lees changes with each vintage.

Albariño with seafood

Galicia is famous for the best seafood in Spain, and Albariño grew up alongside it. Its freshness and flavor suit richer seafood such as octopus, scallops and oily fish, and for the family nothing beats oysters, which share its ocean character. Daughter Vicky, now guiding the estate, sees herself as the guardian of something bigger, to be handed on a little better to the next generation.

Go furtherWant to taste along? Find Pazo de Señoráns’s wines and where to buy them near you on Wine-Searcher.