THREE
SIDES OF
SPAIN
3 wines $33
Three Sides of Spain
For this flight, we’re headed across the Atlantic to make our way to three of the Spanish coasts. We’ll begin near the Old World’s “end of the world,” Finisterre–the stopping point for numbers of pilgrims who’ve walked to Santiago de Compostela to visit the tomb of St. James since the 9th century. Our own pilgrimage begins just south of Finisterre in the Val do Salnés where more albariño is planted than in any of the other Rías Baixas subregions. Tracing the coast north takes us to the Cantabrian Sea which we’ll follow until just before San Sebastián, making our stop in Getariako Txakolina. They take food and drink seriously here; there are some 26 Michelin-starred restaurants dotted across the region’s dramatic coastline. Finally, we’ll follow the base of the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean coast, completing the crescent of our journey in the southern third of Spain in the Vinalopó River valley of Alicante.
When the Phoenicians came to present day Cadiz more than three thousand years ago, they brought vines with them, and today the vines of Spain cover the greatest amount of surface area in the world. Up until the last 30 years or so, the most sought-after Spanish wines were either red or oxidative, most of them coming from the interior. The introduction of temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks transformed winemaking in regions that had otherwise been battling both high temperatures and also rainy, humid seasons that can easily give way to mold, mildew, and fungal disease.
Rías Baixas has defined this new era of Spanish winemaking beginning with albariño. Albariño has been called the riesling of Spain, although it bears closer resemblance in flavor profile to a salty grüner veltliner. Apocryphally, albariño was thought to have been brought to Spain by pilgrimaging German monks from the Rhineland, although modern genetic testing suggests otherwise. Easily one of the most structured white varietals, we’ll taste Rodrigo Méndez’s Leirana from Forjas del Salnés. Rodri, as he is affectionately known, is a fifth generation winemaker who worked in the vineyards with his grandfather and is committed to studying and showcasing the terroir of the Val do Salnés.
We visit the Lazkano family next. The family has been farming three separate single vineyard plots since 1923. Their 25 hectares of organically farmed vines are cooled by salty Cantabrian breezes. Brothers Joseba and Urtzi are committed to sustainable agriculture and are certified Integrated Viticulture. The Txakoli we’ll taste is one of the family’s reserve bottlings from 100+ year old vines.
Finally, making our way to the Mediterranean, we find Marta and Andrés at Casa Balaguer. They met studying oenology in Valencia and started making wine in 2008. By 2018, they acquired a 19th century estate and are deeply committed to biodynamic winemaking. They treat their vineyards and olive groves as living organisms and follow lunar and planetary cycles. Their deep sense of cosmic interconnectivity shines through each of their bottlings.
All three featured producers take a studied and serious approach to wines that otherwise are often enjoyed quite casually. We hope to showcase the ways in which attentive winemaking invites a delicacy, depth, and complexity beyond the interior.
The Line Up
Forjas del Salnés, Leirana, Albariño, Rías Baixas DO, 2025
The Val do Salnés is one of the rainiest areas in all of Spain, so the vines are trained vertically into canopies that allow for air circulation beneath. This area cut off by the Cordillera Cantábrica is often called “Green Spain” because of the combination of its temperate climate, plentiful rainfall, and rich soil. The “rías” of Rías Baixas are the estuaries that cut into the southern Galician coasts, the baixas, amongst eucalyptus forests and Roman stone walls.
Leirana comes from three vineyard sites planted between 1952-1982. The soil here is predominantly granite and the wines are made organically with minimal intervention and native yeast. Leirana also sees extended lees contact with no bâttonage and no malolactic fermentation.
The resulting wine shows sharp citrus in the front and on the finish with a mineral-rich sea breeze on the palate; it’s a breath of fresh air.
Gaintza, Aitako Blanco, Getariako Txakolina DO, 2024
Typically one thinks of Txakoli as a simple, fizzy white, but with their Aitako Blanco, Joseba and Urtzi set out to show the vast potential of this wine and the region. Aitako Blanco comes from 3 hectares of 100+ year old vines planted 1500 meters from the Cantabrian Sea on bluffs overlooking the water (“gaintza” means “on top of”).
Aged 12 months on the lees in stainless steel, Aitako Blanco is bottled bone dry and thus without the fizz one commonly finds in wines from the region. The result is a full-bodied, singular expression featuring prominent green apple, stone, and delicate white flowers. This wine transformed every time I went back to the glass, and I couldn’t be more delighted to share it on our coastal Spanish flight this summer.
Casa Balaguer, Tragolargo Tinto, 2024
550 meters above sea level, the ancient course of the Vinalopó River passed directly through the Casa Balaguer estate that today is home to holistically farmed vines, olive groves, cereals, almonds, and fruit trees as well as roaming goats, donkeys, hens, rabbits, cats, and geese. Several floods in the late 18th century changed the river’s course, leaving a uniquely rich terroir which Marta and Andrés tend with the utmost care.
Tragolargo (literally ‘long gulp’) is made entirely from monastrell. One third of the grapes see whole cluster carbonic maceration and fermentation and the remaining two thirds are conventionally fermented with skins and seeds.
The wine has an intoxicatingly inviting oolong nose. I felt like a cartoon character drawn irresistibly by the aroma of a fresh pie to its window seat–this one’s star anise and bramble berry, an utter delight.
By Leigh Fleshman