2021 Cume do Avia, Colleita 9 Tinto, Galicia, Spain.
As I’ve said before, these Cume do Avia wines are serious efforts that deserve your attention, though they have a friendly and easy to drink freshness, especially this Colleita 9 Tinto, which shows off a bright personality in the glass, not unlike a Cru Beaujolais with a dark ruby color, vibrant red fruits, a touch of spice, pretty florals and a nice mineral note in a quaffable medium bodied wine. Grown in Galicia’s Ribeiro region with a cooling Atlantic influence and mountainside vineyards, which their importer says, are composed of granodiorite, schist, slate, and gneiss bedrock, clay and sand topsoil, and they have nearly twenty rare indigenous grape varieties planted with ancient massale selections. The vines of Cume do Avia overlook the Avia and Miño Rivers near the border with Portugal, with this delicious red being made from an organic blend of 40% Caiño Longo, 34% Sousón, and 26% Brancellao. The nose is flinty with red berries, crushed flowers and peppery spice and there’s a juicy array of tangy red currant, wild plum, cherry, blood orange and nectarine fruits, along with loam, thyme, sour cranberry and bergamot in the background. Each grape is typically fermented separately and then blended, with each vintage being a different percentage and using stainless steel and old wood to preserve transparency, with fresh acidity and always low natural alcohols, usually under 12%.
One of Spain’s most interesting newer producers and led by Diego Collarte and his brother Álvaro, who both grew up in Vigo, Cume do Avia makes some beautifully crafted terroir driven Galician wines from very close to the Portuguese border, made all from native varietals grown with organic methods. I have been following the wines of this region for more than 15 years and I’m still discovering so many intriguing new treasures that has been producing wines since pre-Roman times, and Cume do Avia is a great find, mostly known for their collection of reds, like this one, which includes a mix of rare grapes such as Caiño Longo, Souson and Brancellao. They also do a fabulous white, the Cume do Avia “Colleita 9” Ribeiro Branco that comes from organic vines set in local Atlantic influenced parcels that are set on rocky and sandy soils with clay, along with a combination of complex elements that include granodiorite, gneiss and flinty slate with a selection of Treixadura, Albarino, Loureira, Lado and Caiña Branco grapes. As mentioned before, the Cume do Avia’s lineup is filled with low alcohol and rawly transparent offerings that have a natural feel to them, those that like other stars from Galicia, like Laura Lorenzo, Luis Rodriguez, Guimaro and Nanclares will instantly feel comfortable with them, and I highly recommend them. These lighter framed Cume do Avia red wines do show better with food, and are flexible enough to go with sea food and or country style meaty dishes too.
($32 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive