Albariño
Flor de Sotelo 2018
Constantina Sotelo

Grape Variety: Albariño

Producer: Constantina Sotelo

Region: Rias Baixas, Galicia, Spain

Wild Scale: 3/5

Vegan friendly wine

Winemaking: Organic Albariño grapes were harvested by hand. Whole bunches were crushed and the juice spent 3 weeks on the skins before being pressed into amphora vessels for fermentation with indigenous yeast. Aged in for 9 months in amphora where a layer of flor developed. Bottled with no fining, filtration or added sulphur.

This Wine: Amazingly rich and intense Albariño. The flor brings some integrated oxidative notes alongside dried apricot and preserved lemon. There is a long umami finish which would make this the perfect wine to drink with cheese or even sushi. Very small production.

Notes on the Winemaker: Constantina Sotelo makes natural wine in the famous region of Rias Baixas, the home of Albariño. However, the wines she produces are very different to your typical bottles from here. She works outside the DO which requires wines to be filtered and sulphured and instead focusses on making honest and authentic expressions of Albariño and some local red varieties. In 2018, we visited her in the beautiful surroundings of this part of Spain to see the vineyards and taste the many wines she produces.