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WINES OF SPAIN
72
Licia & Finca de Arantei
| Lee-See-Ya | & /Feen-Ka deh Are-Ahn-Teh/
DO Rías Baixas (Galicia), Spain
Jose Limeres, a native of the Galician town of Pontevedra and owner of several successful restaurants in
Madrid, entered the wine business in 1985 when he was searching for a reliable supplier of quality wines
for his restaurants. He bought his first property in O Rosal and planted native varieties that flourished in
the area’s unique climate and soil. The resulting wines proved a hit, particularly his Albariño, which strikes
just the right balance of sugar and acidity. His property, Bodegas La Val, is located in the DO of Rías
Baixas, in Galicia. Limeres’s first vineyard, in O Rosal, is nestled on the Minho River, close to the Atlantic
coast—an optimal area for Albarino due to the drier climate and warmer growing season. In the years
that followed, Limeres expanded with three more vineyards in the area, and today his property covers
two hundred acres of land. Soil types in the vineyards range from alluvial and granitic to slate, allowing
Limeres to produce both
terroir
-driven, single-estate wines as well as carefully constructed blends.
Licia Albariño
Licia, whose name pays tribute to the autonomy of Galicia, is made exclusively for MundoVino by
Bodegas La Val. It contains 100 percent estate-grown Albariño from the southern sub-zones of O
Rosal and Condado de Tea. The warmer vineyard locations, plus the absence of any filler grapes such
as Treixadura, makes Licia an intensely aromatic and elegant expression of the Albariño grape and an
excellent complement to fine cuisine. The nose bursts with minerality, and the palate is medium-bodied
with excellent acidity and a long finish.
2014:
88 WE |
2013:
89 WS |
2007:
92 W&S
Finca de Arantei Single Vineyard Albariño
Finca Arantei is the pinnacle of Bodegas La Val’s line. It is a single-estate-varietal Albariño, which is rare
in Rías Baixas, where cooperatives dominate. The Arantei vineyard occupies 87.5 acres of rocky, sandy
soil in the subzone of Condado de Tea, the heart of the Miño Valley, which gets some of the most ample
sunshine in the DO. The wine is aged on its lees for three months before bottling, which creates elegant
flavors and a creamy mouthfeel. Pale straw-yellow in color, with distinct floral and mineral aromas, this
wine is among the most refined and elegant examples of this variety. It is medium-bodied with excellent
acidity and a lengthy finish, lively and complex, with a racy character reminiscent of some of the best
Alsatian Rieslings.
2014:
88 WA, 89 WE |
2013:
90 WE |
2010:
90 WA