Val de Meigas, Albariño, Rías Baixas, Galicia, Spain 2023

100% Albariño, destemmed and direct-pressed. Fermented with indigenous yeast in tank; rested on fine lees in tank 3 months before bottling.

Straw yellow in color with an intense bouquet of florals and subtle fruity undertones. Smooth on the palate, this wine is the perfect companion to a variety of foods.

This lovely Val de Meigas Albariño is the personal project of Rebeca Barral from the Salnés valley of Galicia’s Rías Baixas. Rebeca’s family has been established for generations in the town of Ribadumia in the heart of the Salnés valley. The Salnés is the oldest and most coastal of the Rías Baixas appellation’s recognized subzones, and is generally believed to the be the genetic birthplace of the Albariño variety.

Rebeca’s family have been producing wine commercially in Ribadumia since 1983, but it wasn’t until 2015 that Rebeca decided to take charge of her own project, sourced from select parcels of her family’s holdings. Her impish imagination settled on the trade name Val de Meigas — meiga (cognate with the English ‘mage’) being a witch or sorceress, a common folkloric figure in Galicia and neighboring Asturias. She has also finetuned the winemaking to express her preferred style, utilizing natural yeasts while avoiding skin contact and extended lees aging to achieve a pure, light, mineral style of oceanic refreshment at an amazingly affordable price.