19/05/2026
Wine of the Week #3
Leirana 2024 – Bodega Forjas del Salnés.
Rías Baixas, Galicia, Spain
100% Albariño – Natural Wine. 13% Alcohol.
This week, we suggest a wine from a land and a grape that are unfairly overlooked in the world of Spanish wines: Galicia and Albariño.
If Spain is sun, fiesta, and flamenco, then Galicia is on another planet. Rainy Atlantic weather, amazing seafood, and people with Celtic roots. Try to involve a Galician girl in a crazy flamenco, you might get punched (personal experience), earn the trust of a Galician, and you will get a loyal friend for life (also personal experience)
Wine is never just fermented grape juice. For centuries, generations of people shaped local wines to match local food, climate, and everyday life. And the best expression of Galician culture in wine?
Albariño - especially those like Leirana, from the D.O. Rías Baixas, the cradle of this majestic grape. Behind it is , a producer that combines deep respect for tradition with a clean, minimal-intervention approach.
Enough talk. Let’s taste:
SIGHT: It presents itself with a pale straw-yellow color, shiny, jauntily hitting the bottom of the glass, and giving the sensation that we are in front of an uncomplicated wine. Which is, fortunately, both right and wrong.
NOSE: Intense; it tickles your receptors long before the glass gets close to your nose tip. Sometimes intensity detracts from complexity, and vice versa. But not this time! You are puzzled by the number of notes and aromas this wine conveys in its complex bouquet: tropical fruits, a hint of banana, yellow fruits, mineral scents, and, later, citrusy and peachy aromas as it swirls in your glass. A mineral-fruit combination that will please the senses just before the tasting.
TASTE: Fresh, acidic; it confirms the fruity and mineral notes you experienced at the nose, leaning more toward lemon, citrusy, and mango. The saline minerality part is also confirmed, making this wine easy-drinking without becoming banal. Persistent, residing in the mouth without hinting at leaving soon.
Love Albariño? Here is your fav wine ever.
Never tried Albariño before? This is exactly where you should start.