Albariño Do Ferreiro 2016

The Méndez family consider 2016 a vintage with some similarities with 2011. I tasted their regular 2016 Albariño, which is produced from a mix of grapes from the 164 plots of vines they work, adding diversity of soils, mostly granite and sand but also red slate, and expositions in the villages of Meaño, Adina, Sisán, Castelo and Leiro. The grapes were picked in five days, starting on September 17th. All wines fermented with a "pied de cuve" from the Cepas Vellas, which fermented the juice from the destemmed grapes. The wine is kept with fine lees for a period of time that can range between four and up to 11 months. It has a fresh and balanced nose, with notes of good freshness—quite striking for a warmish year—with citrus notes intermixed with hints of white flowers and fruit. It's a more powerful year, with 13.5% alcohol, but has great acidity and freshness. The palate is focused and delineated, with great purity and very tasty flavors. It has great mid-palate and concentration. A surprise. It's one of the finest young Do Ferreiros I remember. This should evolve nicely in bottle. 85,000 bottles produced and bottled in ten different lots. I tasted a bottle from May 2017; they now have all the bottling dates on the labels.