Nas Dunas 2020

The 2020 Nas Dunas comes from vines on sandy soils over clay in the zone of Arra, where the soil retains the water and the plants have always a reservoir of water, even if it's deep down. The juice from pressing the destemmed grapes fermented with indigenous yeasts in a large oak barrel, where the wine later matured for 11 months. It has a more developed nose with some oxidative hints of nuts and dry hay and straw, less varietal and more complex, with elegance and finesse with iodine and balsamic hints. It has moderate alcohol, 12.5%, but full development of aromas and flavors, and it has high acidity but without an acid feeling. This is a different expression of Albariño. 900 bottles were filled from one 700-liter oak barrel. It was bottled in August 2021, and they keep the wine in bottle for a couple of years more.

Chico Moldes shares this small, rare, Atlantic-influenced, sand and clay-based vineyard in Arra with Rodri Méndez and Raúl Pérez. There are only 900 bottles, alas, because the resulting wine is very special indeed, all citrus, quince and wild herbs, with subtle oak integration, sourdough top notes, some phenolic grip and effortless complexity. Impressively long on the palate. 2023-30