Señorio de Cruces Albariño, Rías Baixas

Lourdes Castro is the third-generation to oversee the family-run adega (gallego for bodega) in this small fold in the hills around the Ulla River, an inland subzone of Rías Baixas about 20 km south of Santiago de Compostela. Ría means estuary and rías baixas means lower estuaries. These little inlets dot the landscape up and down the coast.

The mild Atlantic climate sends high levels of humidity that settles into the vineyard areas. To avoid the rot that would happen should the grapes sit on the damp ground, they are elevated on a granite-post trellis system called an emparrado. Sitting up on the emparrado, the thick-skinned albariño aerates and has a better chance of ripening through the spring and summer.

The Castro family has maintained the 12 hectares of vines for over half a century. The current winery was founded in 1983 and specializes in high-quality, small-batch albariño. They also make treixadura, godello, torrontés and a local mencía. There is minimal handling of the vines. They are afixed to the granite posts with bimbios, a plant-based tie. All by-products of the harvest, from the destemmed clusters to the pips distilled to make orujo, are recycled and used again in the vineyard. All grapes are picked by hand in 15 kg crates and delivered to the winery within eight hours for processing.

Grapes are hand harvested at two vineyards from the seaside Cambados and the mountainous Ulla sub-zones. Grapes are sorted again at the vineyard before destemming and crushing. Cold maceration follows and and a controlled alcoholic fermentation in stainless steel finishes vinification.

Top 90 Best Wines of Spain: 90 points - PEÑIN GUIDE 2010
86 points - Robert Parker 2007