Alberto Nanclares & Silvia Prieto: Single Vineyard Wines from the Atlantic Coast of Spain

3/20/20 -

Alberto Nanclares was once an economist. It is our great luck that he decided to move from the Basque country to the Val do Salnes with his wife, and that, once there, he embarked on a viticultural journey. Beginning with a tiny number of conventionally farmed vines, he now organically farms two-and-a-half hectares of Albariño in the form of isolated plots around his village of Castrelo, in Cambados. Organics is difficult and a rarity in humid Rías Baixas, and he is a pioneer in natural farming and low-intervention winemaking in the region.

Alberto Nanclares began making the wines from his vineyards himself in 2007, and has since begun to work with Silvia Prieto in the cellar and the vineyard. Their approach is low-intervention, concerned with emphasizing the character of the Val do Salnes and their unique terroir. They employ no additives aside from modest amounts of sulfur, and all fermentations are done with indigenous yeasts. In particular, they celebrate the acidic structure of Albariño, eschewing any attempt to deacidify the wines. In their cellar, malolactic fermentation is a rarity, so the wines are defined by their racy, vibrant acidity.

In addition to their Albariños, Alberto and Silvia have been working with Roberto Regal in Ribeira Sacra to produce a fascinating and Atlantic-influenced red wine from a single very steep parcel above the Minho. Miñato da Raña is as electric as their Albariños, and as focused in its expression of place.

2018 was a somewhat difficult vintage, and yields (already kept low intentionally) were lower than normal. Spring and summer were rainy and cool, but the vintage was saved by a drier, warmer August and September. Situations in Ribeira Sacra were similar. However, the wines are beautiful and balanced, with dense fruit and bright acidity: awesome expressions of Galicia.

Alberto Nanclares and Silvia Prieto create, in my opinion, the most beautiful, mineral, and elegant wines made from Albariño in the world. From their more accessible wines from a blend of plots to these single vineyard wines, each expression is special. The wines on offer today are, however, the most special. From single parcels of organically farmed old vines, these limited, rare wines are the greatest Albariños that I've had the pleasure of trying. Many of them are wines to age, but each offers great pleasure now, as well. Intense, long, and full of depth, they embody the potential of a grape that has become, perhaps, a little too common.

-Ben Fletcher