2022 Nanclares y Prieto, Albariño “Tempus Vivendi Rosina” Rias Baixas, Galicia, Spain.
The bright gold and salty Nanclares Tempus Vivendi Rosina Albariño is zesty, but with a subtle oxidative, nutty and waxy element, making for a beautiful authentic and complex version of this grape and place. The medium bodied palate has loads of acidity and steely notes to go with a core of apple, white peach, quince and tangy citrusy lemon/lime fruits, that are backed up by bitter herb, orange flower, verbena, wet rock and iodine accents.The Nanclares y Prieto Tempus Vivendi comes from 6 parcels in the parroquias (or parishes) of Vilalonga, Noalla and Dorrón close to the municipality of Sanxenxo along the Atlantic coast in the famed sub zone of Val do Salnés from historic and traditional Pergola trained and grown vines that range from 25 to 40 years old. Tempus Vivendi was pressed whole cluster and fermented in steel tank, allowing native yeasts and non malolactic conversion, to preserve its natural freshness and retain high acidity. While crisp and zippy, this Albariño was raised on the lees over winter, which adds wonderful texture and mouth feel and was bottled with very low levels of SO2, and was neither clarified or filtered. Enjoy this with steamed clams or mussels in white wine and scallion broth, fresh raw oysters and or rosemary accented grilled sardines.
Nanclares y Prieto, led by Alberto Nanclares and joined by the youthful talents of Silvia Prieto, has fast become the go to Albariño estate in Spain’s Rias Baixas with their handcrafted biodynamic/organic wines. Based in the Cambados zone, Nanclares’ estate wines are unique Atlantic influenced Albariños grown at sea level on a mix of sand, clay and granite soils that allow these wines to display a deep saline quality as well as a striking mineral core. Alberto Nanclares, who started this small winery as a second career, was convinced of, and had a passion about holistic and organic farming, which with the closeness to the Ocean and the humid conditions here in the Rias Baixas make that very difficult, but has been proven it can be done and that the wine is much better for it. He even became incorporating the biodynamic methods in recent years, along with an innovative addition of natural seaweed composting. This bottling is a tribute to Alberto’s great passion for sailing and the wines true soulful connection to the sea, I love these wines and almost every vintage is a treat, especially the regular estate version along with this Tempus Vivendi and the tasty little Dandelion cuvee, and while limited and mostly hard to find they are well worth the extra effort it takes to get a few bottles, drink up.
($32 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive